


Anger in the gunsmoke and bars

by EvilSlicey



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry hates Joe, Criminal!Barry, F/M, M/M, Multi, Organized Crime, Santini family - Freeform, Self-Destruction, Self-Hatred, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, dark!Barry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 09:27:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilSlicey/pseuds/EvilSlicey
Summary: Barry Allen hates Joe West. He blames him for his father's death. He blames the system for ignoring him.He desides to do what he can to make them pay.It takes a small new baby and two crooks to keep him from doing so at the expense of his own life.(anything underage is limited to the first two chapters, so you know)





	1. Good Bye Barry Allen

**Author's Note:**

> three quick things  
> 1\. Yes, Barry takes on Henry's name as a way to get back at the world who ignored or diminished Barry  
> 2\. I know Joe's religion isn't that big in the show but Joe talks about having a priest and Iris and Barry got married by a priest in a catholic church... so i decided that.  
> 3\. please don't argue abortion in the comments. Mama isn't in the mood.

Bartholomew Henry Allen, known to some as Barry and others as Henry, felt like his life was cursed.

As a young child he was a loner and bullied by other kids, the only ray of sunshine in his life was one girl named Iris Ann West. Well, her and his kind, caring and loving mother and father.

Then he witnessed his mother’s murder and his father being arrested for it by Iris’ father for that murder. Despite Barry knowing and telling them otherwise.

No one believed him. His father went to prison.

Detective Joseph West, the father of his only friend, tried to get custody of Barry. He might have if Barry hadn’t exploded in an interview with his social worker, calling Joe a heartless idiot who shouldn’t have a badge.

The social worker told the judge that living with Joe West would be detrimental to his physical and mental well-being.

Instead Barry got shipped off to a foster home. Then another. And another. And another. Before Barry’s 16th birthday he lived in 7 different foster and group homes.

The whole time he campaigned his father’s innocence and Joe West’s failures as a detective. He even ran a blog about it.

It wasn’t easy, but he could still talk to his father on the weekends when his social worker would take him to visit the man and he still had his friendship to Iris. Iris seemed to be the one person who didn’t think he was crazy even she didn’t believe him. He even kept his grades up just to prove that he was smarter than Detective West.

Then Barry had another blow that completely changed everything about his life. It may have had a bigger impact than even his mother’s death. Or maybe it just extended the trauma.

He was sitting in his science class doodling in his note book as his teacher talked about topic that he already did all the work for when he got the text book and googled it. He was thinking about what he was going to do in any of his other classes or if he would ditch out to hide in the library when the principal’s secretary and the school council showed up at the door and asked for him. He gathered his bag and followed them to the office.

When he walked into the principal’s office, he was surprised to see his social worker and his court appointed guardian who represented him when ever legal concerns came up. Like securing his mother’s life insurance pay out set up in a trust for him he became of legal age or emancipated or to pay for an expense his foster parents couldn’t be held responsible for.

He knew what they were there for before anyone opened their mouth.

Barry convinced his guardian to let him use some of his money to give his father a burial in his plot next to his mom. No one but him and his social worker attended the funeral.

He had them drop him off at his guardian’s office so he can start the process to becoming a legal emancipated minor. Then he took the bus to the school district office and got the information to get his GED.

He was done letting the adults who had no real vested interest control his life.

He spent the rest of the semester filling out the paper work to not only take the control of his life but to rent an apartment and unlock his trust instead of listening to his teachers.

He still ended the year at the top of his class.

He went to the one and only high school party he would ever attend when he got his GED and had a court date to finalize his emancipation. He grabbed a beer and found a seat to watch the classmates he never shared more than a few words with since 5th grade from a far.

He was more than a few drinks in when Iris West stumbled and landed in his lap.

He laughed and held his only friend as she giggled and hugged him back. He realized he missed her and that his was the last time they would be like this ever.

He and Iris couldn’t be friends anymore.

She took a seat next to him, sharing another beer with him, and as they took measured sips from their drinks Barry told Iris about his life for the last few months. She cried when she heard that his father died and wrapped her arms around his neck when he told her he was leaving school to finally have his own life.

He kissed her then, determined to end this chapter of his life on a positive note.

He was surprised when she kissed him back, straddling his lap and ground against his crotch. He was at a lost for words when she pulled up and took him upstairs. He almost cried when she found a bedroom and locked the door behind them.

He asked her again and again that this was she what wanted as their clothing came off and they continued to kiss deeper and more desperately. She kept whispering ‘Yes’ with every question, as he laid her back on the bed, as his hands explored her beautiful brown body.

She screamed ‘yes’ when he entered her and held him close.

He would wish he could say it lasted the whole night. That it was perfect.

In reality their coupling was awkward and rushed, they bumped noses and teeth, and it was over after a few good minutes.

At least Iris seemed to enjoy it if the clenching of her legs around his hips and her low cry near the end was an indicator.

Iris was the first to move. Throwing on her clothes while explaining that she had snuck out and she needed to make sure she was home when her father got home from his shift at 2 am. Barry was sad to see her go.

In a week the judge had granted him emancipation and he had an apartment which held a rickety table with two chairs, a bed on the floor and T.V. tray. He had a work shirt with a name tag that declared him as ‘Henry’ and catalogs for the local community college he had no intention of touching.

All of this was just to convince the judge that he was able to take care himself like any adult.

What the judge didn’t know was he had a list of business linked to the Santini crime syndicate and pictures of known soldiers, captains, associates and made men. Once his social worker had done a final visit to make sure he was doing fine Henry moved to act on his plan.

He started hanging out a restaurant that was so ingrained in the family that most of the tables were filled with family members when the doors were open. He worked his stocking job at night but spent his afternoons with plates or pasta, listening to the conversation around him, and making his face known.

It only took a month for someone to approach him and make it clear he wasn’t welcome in restaurant. Henry made it known that he was looking for work and heard they were hiring.

He was ushered into a back office and sat in front of a man who looked like a cliché movie mobster. He looked at him like he was meat about to go bad. He asked Henry why he wanted to work for them with a sneer.

“Because the cops are the real crooks, and guys like you actually keep people safe. Even if it is at a price.” Henry responded with a smile.

He got a route and job. He delivered a package or two or five twice a week and pick up another to return.

He made decent money and kept his nose clean, feeding the mob some information about certain cops, district attorneys and social workers he met during his dad’s trial and appeals.

He was well on is way to make his way into a career of crime when two things happened.

The first happened one day, when he got done with his delivery and settled up with his contact and made his way home intent to just order a pizza and call it a night.

When Henry approached his door he was surprised to see Iris West standing outside it, holding a large bag. He stopped and almost dropped his keys as he stared at the girl, realizing his heart no longer longed for her like it had for so much of his life. She just didn’t belong in his life anymore.

She smiled when she saw him, looking nervous but happy.

“Barry!” She moved to hug Henry who accepted it with a grimace.

“Iris. What are you doing here?” He asked with forced smile. He knew she could tell it was fake by the sad look that filled her eyes.

“I can’t want to see my friend?” She asked with a laugh like it was a joke. Henry sighed and ran his hands through his hair before pushing past her to unlock his door.

“Well you saw me, I’m alive. You can go home.” He said cringing at how exhausted he sounded.

“Barr…” Iris grabbed his arm and stopped him from opening the door. “I miss you, can’t we catch up a little?”

“Miss me? Iris… we barely talked to each other over the last 5 years. Not since my mom died. We were friends, we haven’t been in a while. I’m sorry you haven’t realized it, but I knew it the last time I saw you. Please, just go home. I’m sure the detective will worry about you soon. Don’t need him showing up here acting like I kidnapped you.” Henry snapped as he pulled away from her grasp and threw the door open.

“Barr.” Iris sounded like she was going to cry. Henry almost growled at the old nickname.

“Don’t call me that, I’m not your Barr and I don’t go by Barry anymore either.” He snarled as he turned on the girl who looked like she was about to cry. He paused taking in her upset face and quiver lip. He kicked himself for a second because as much as he hated her father, she had done nothing wrong.

 He took a minute to breath before he spoke again choosing his words carefully and measured his tone.

“Iris, I’m sorry I yelled but seriously, why are you here? Why couldn’t you just let me go?”

“I…” Iris sniffed and looked down at the ground like it had the answers. Henry realized for the first time how nervous and upset she looked. She was wearing sweats and she seemed to be shielding herself with her bag. He felt his stomach drop when he began to realize something might be wrong.

“Iris? Are you ok? Is it… did… did Joe do something?” He moved forward and touched her arm feeling how tense she was for the first time.

“No! No… he… hasn’t. I just…” Iris gulped, and tears finally began to fall down her cheeks.

“You think he will do something?” Henry guessed and sighed when the girl gave a little nod. “Iris, please tell me what is going on? Joe is an ass and idiot, but I can’t imagine anything that would make him hurt you.”

“Really? Because I can.” Iris took a deep breath and leaned against Henry for a second, talking into his chest instead of to is face. “Barr I’m pregnant.”

Henry felt his heart stop, the world slow down, time stop.

He looked down at the top of her head and felt his heart break for the girl.

“Let’s go inside. Better to talk in private instead of out here.” Henry sighed, reluctantly pulling away to finally open the door and lead her in. Iris let him direct her and didn’t look up the whole time.

Once Barry had her seated at his table and had some water on to boil for tea, he leaned against the counter and focused on the problem at hand.

First things first, he had some questions he needed to ask, and he hoped Iris would answer.

“Is it mine?” He broke the silence looking not at the girl but out the window on the other side of his apartment. He didn’t miss Iris’s head snapping up in surprise though.

“What? Yes, of course yes. That night… was.” Iris gulped again and sighed. “That was the first time for me Barry. Yes, the baby is yours.”

“Aren’t we just over achievers. It was my first time too.” Henry let out a dry laugh and banded his head back against one of his upper cabinets. “Does Joe know?”

“No! I…” Iris took a deep breath and wiped her eyes before talking again calmer. “I just found out last week, I didn’t even realize I missed my first period after we… you know.”

“Had sex Iris, or a one-night stand if you’re that uncomfortable. Your pregnant no need to beat around the bush. It’s not like we did before.” Henry said with a dry laugh as the tea pot started to scream and he moved to make them both drinks. He placed the mismatched coffee mugs he had gotten from a second-hand store and finally took the seat across from Iris, really looking at her in the first time since she dropped the bomb. She looked smaller and younger than Henry had every seen her look before.

He waited for her to take a few sips of the Lipton before he moved on to his next question. The one that was probably most important.

“What do you want to do?” He asked softly.

Iris sighed and looked at ceiling.

“I don’t really know what I want to do. How about you?”

Henry shook his head and fiddled with his mug.

“I don’t really think that’s my decision to make Iris.” He said slowly.

“Don’t you… I mean I know we’re young but if I decide to keep it wouldn’t you want to be apart of their life? Be a dad to your child?” Iris sounded desperate and Henry shoved his mug away to look her in the eyes. He hated himself for what he was about to say but knew he needed to.

“Honestly? No. Not like this. Not… not with you.”

Iris looked shocked and started crying again.

“I thought… I thought you liked me.” She sobbed and gasped for breath again.

“Iris.” Henry reached for her hand and wasn’t surprised when she snatched it away to cup her head as she cried into her palms. Henry sighed and got up to kneel by her side, taking one of hands away to hold it.

“Iris, I did like you, I still do. Its not about how I feel about you. I would happily raise a child with you even if we weren’t a couple. You were my friend.” He assured her as he looked up into her face and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb in slow circles.

“’Were’? As in not anymore.” She acknowledged wiping away her tears.

“As in not anymore. We can’t now.” Henry agreed.

“Why?” Iris asked, the steel returning to her voice and making Henry smile for the first time since he saw her in the hall. This was the Iris he had loved. He took another deep breath and smiled at her sadly.

“Because of Joe.” He said simply.

“Dad? What- Why? Why does he make a difference?”

“Because he sent my dad to prison. He took him away from me and told people he did something he didn’t do. That I know he didn’t do because I was there, and I saw it. My dad is dead because of him.” Henry rocked back on to his heels and looked her in the face. “My dad lost his wife then Joe took away his freedom, his child and his life. My father will never meet my children, never see what I do with my life, never see another sun rise or sun set, never hug me, never read a book. And your father did that.”

“Barry he just did his job…” Iris pulled away and looked at him with a bit of horror.

“If he had done his job, he would have listened to me and known my dad was innocent. If he had done his job, he would have looked for evidence and not jump on the doctor trying to save his wife’s life. If he had done his job, Iris, my dad would have never been in prison.” Henry felt his anger drip out with his words like venom.

“We never had a chance did we Barr?” Iris said, her tears finally dried up and sadness replacing them in her eyes.

“No, we lost it the moment my dad went to prison.” Henry stood up and moved back to his seat. He picked up his now cooled drink and finished it off. He took the time to center himself and to let Iris collect herself. He saw the moment she shut off her emotions and knew he had to finish the conversation.

“Do you want to get rid of it? I can give you money if you need it.” He said as he put his mug down and looked her in the eyes.

“No! No… I already knew no matter what I was going to… go through with it.” Iris looked horrified and Henry remembered something.

“That’s right… Joe’s catholic. Even if he is upset about you having a baby, he would rather you had than not have it.” Henry said bitterly.

“Barry…” Iris sighed.

“I don’t go by Barry anymore, please stop calling me that.”

“What should I call you then?” Iris said looking like she was humoring him.

“Henry.”

Iris blinked and shook her head.

“Ok Henry. I don’t know if I want to keep the baby or give it up. I just know I’m going to have it.” Iris informed him and took another sip of her chilled tea. “I guess you don’t want to be a part of their life?”

Henry shook his head.

“It would be for the best, I can’t be around Joe and I doubt that he would be happy with me being a part of your lives.” Henry sighed and laced his fingers together to look Iris in the face again. “Whatever you choose, I’ll support it. If you keep it, I’ll send you money each month. If you decide on adoption, I’ll sign the paperwork. I won’t make it, any of this, any harder for you than it already is.”

“Thank you, Bar-Henry.” Iris grabbed her bag seemingly determined to leave. She stopped once she stood up and looked him again, examining his face curiously. “Can I ask a question?”

“Yeah, sure. You can ask me anything.” Henry said with relief that she was done pushing him.

“Can I put your name on the birth certificate? I mean… can I make it so that when they are older, they could look you up if they want to?”

Henry thought about it for a minute then nodded.

“Just don’t tell Joe. I don’t want him hunting me down because I knocked up his baby girl.”

Iris mimicked his nodded and sighed. Henry was surprised when she surged forward and hugged him tight. It took a few heart beats but eventually he let himself hug her back.

“I’m sorry your hurting right now Henry. I’m sorry you lost your dad, and I’m sorry that you feel can’t be part of my baby’s life. I hope you will change your mind one day.” She whispered into his ear before pulling away.

Henry watched Iris collect her self and look around his apartment for probably the first time since she got there.

“I’m also sorry that you are apparently squatting here. Could you not afford furniture?” She looked at him with a bit of confusion.

Henry laughed and shook his head.

“What can I say, I didn’t need much to start my new life.”

“You need a couch.”

“No I don’t.”

“You need somewhere to sit that isn’t your bed Henry.” Iris chastised him.

“What were you just sitting on Iris?” Henry smiled.

“Your unbelievable.” Iris sighed.

“Thank you.”

Iris shook her head again and finally pulled away from Henry.

“Iris.” Henry stopped the girl from leaving, wanting to make sure she didn’t have to come back anytime soon. He frowned at her when she looked at him a bit hopefully. “I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. Mail me a copy of the birth certificate when the baby is born. So, I can make sure that if… if anything happens to me, they can get what’s left of my mom’s estate.”

Iris flinched and nodded. She didn’t question him again and just left again. Henry slumped in his seat as his front door clicked closed. He didn’t want to see Iris again and now he knew, no matter what, he would not only see her again, but Joe too.

He wanted to cry at the thought of seeing Joe again.

He did cry at the thought of a child out there that was his who he never got to hold.

The months went by before the second life changer happened.

He worked both his jobs and actually signed up for a few community college classes. And bought a couch.

He turned more and more into his budding criminal career, dropping his night stocking job to work as a waiter in a family restaurant. He got to know more names and faces, earn favors and praise every now and then. He was good at his work and he started to enjoy it.

The packages turned into duffel bags and crates. He was given a gun.

He was given a route where he would gather 15-25 drops a week. He often had a million dollars or more of cash or illegal goods on him or at least in his car before he had his meeting with his captain.

But when he wasn’t at work or in a class he was on his new couch, watching crappy t-show he wasn’t actually following. He only ate when someone in the family noticed he hadn’t and made him. He barely slept.

When he looked in the mirror, he noticed the changes in his appearance. How his face was hidden under the growing scruff, patchy and untamed, the gradual loss of color in his skin and how his eyes were looking more sunken. His lips were often so chapped they would bleed if he smiled, not that he could remember the last time he smiled.

If he took off his shirt, he could count his ribs.

Some of the soldiers for the family started making comments about his appearance, a few even going so far to ask if he was using. Henry would just roll his eyes and get back to work.

The only time he cared about his appearance was when he visited the court appointed estate manager of his parent’s assets.

He visited him a lot, securing funds for him and his future but also setting the ground work for a 529 account for his- no Iris’ child and making sure they got everything left of those funds if anything happened to him.

He even convinced the court appointed lawyer to draft him a will.

He tried to keep a straight face when he looked concerned when he asked, and he tried not to look away when he kept it simple.

Henry didn’t have any family, so he just told him he wanted his child with Iris Ann West to get it all if something happened to him. He tried to not make it sound like he expected that something to happen any day now.

The one habit he picked up that made the mundanity and pain of his life seem bearable was drinking.

Mobsters had no qualms about giving a 16-year-old a beer or a shot when he was sitting on a meeting, the bartender at the restaurant he worked was happy to slip him a drink or two between orders when it was slow.

As long as he was sober enough to make his runs no one questioned his drinking.

Or who shared his bed.

Henry had started taking a working girl home with him every now and then. The sex was a relief from the numbness of the day to day and better than the buzz of booze in his veins.

They didn’t demand his love or consideration and left before he fell asleep and didn’t expect much more than money in return.

Henry found the moments he laid in his newly empty bed coming down from the high of his orgasm the loneliest moments of his life but everything leading up to them was always work it.

His life went this way for months until he came home one day to find a manila envelope in his mail box. The hand writing was familiar, and his heart started racing as he carried it to his apartment. The thin paper becoming heavier with every step he took, until it felt like he was dragging a cement block up the stairs. Placing the envelope on his kitchen table was at once the greatest relief in his life and the most painful moment of his life.

And he had lived through the deaths of both of his parents.

Henry grabbed one of his mugs, the same one he had served Iris tea in months before, and the bottle of vodka he had won in a poker game and stashed into his freezer before he sat down in front of the brown bundle.

He took a long drag from the bottle before pouring a very full mug full and grabbing the envelop to finally reveal its contents.

It only took seconds. A quick rip, a shake of paper to dump the contents on the table, a quick movement of his hand to spread them so he could see them all, but there it was.

A birth certificate, four snap shots and a hand-written letter.

The certificate bore the date 2 days prior and declared the little dark-skinned baby in the picture Henry was holding like it was a life line to be Nora Francine West. The letter informed him in brief sentences that Iris planned to keep the baby and had gotten her GED a month before giving birth. She promised Joe would never know he was the father, she refused to let him see the certificate after she named Nora.

The other 3 pictures showed Iris, looking tired and teary holding a still bloody new born, her cleaned up and smiling holding a now cleaned and clothing baby and one of her and Joe holding the baby up Joe looking proud and happy at the camera lens.

Henry wondered how bad things had gotten when Iris first told him. If he had tried to get her to do an adoption or offered to raise the baby himself. Henry crushed the picture in anger at the thought of Joe raising his daughter. He knew he would have no leg to stand on if he tried to get custody, Joe probably easily finding his Santini connections, or just trying to point out that he was a young teenage boy who wasn’t even there during the pregnancy.

Henry couldn’t keep Joe from his daughter’s life.

He finished off his mug of vodka, stuck the picture of the little girl on his fridge with a pizza joint magnet and collapsed on his bed to cry himself to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning with one the worst hangovers he had ever had, remembering he drank all that vodka on an empty stomach and no water, he couldn’t give two fucks. He cleaned himself up enough to not make normal happy people concerned and dragged himself to the lawyer’s office.

He tried not to roll his eyes at the secretary when he tried to explain to her for the 5th time that he just wanted to drop off a document for his files. He wound up sitting in an uncomfortable vinyl chair for 3 hours, sick to his stomach and desperate for some eggs or another shot of vodka or a tumble in the sheets.

He was vaguely wonder how hard it was to find a dealer, and if he wanted to add drug user to his list of reasons he shouldn’t be allowed to keep living when he finally got to talk to the tired looking court appointed lawyer.

Henry didn’t chat, didn’t even give him two looks. He just handed over the copy of the birth certificate and made sure it was added to his records.

When the lawyer started to ask him questions and to sound concerned about him Henry took his leave, ignoring the concerned voice of the secretary and two other clients who looked at him in horror.

It wasn’t until he was getting into his car that he realized he was crying.

He decided to head to work early, maybe he could run a few smaller packages or see about getting more responsibility. Or maybe just find a girl willing to be pinned against the alley wall for a few minutes.

It was then, walking from his car toward the connected restaurant that was quickly becoming his home that the second big thing to change his life happened.

Two sets of hands grabbed him as he was passing the opening of the alley, threw a black pillowcase over his head and hauled him into a car.

The last thought he had, as one the hands looped a zip tie around his wrists, and another strapped him into a seat belt was “If this is how I die at least I made sure Nora was taking care of first this morning.”

He promptly proceeded to throw up the remaining vodka in his stomach and pass out from the lack of food in his body.


	2. When You Stop Fighting to live

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit dialog heavy, but I wanted to give a reason for Len and Mick to adopt Barry/Henry.  
> So here we are.

Henry jolted awake when a wet washcloth touched his bare chest and struggled not to panic when the cloth of the bag over his head entered his mouth. He fought his heart rate down as he felt someone cleaning him roughly, trying to figure out where he was.

He had a bag over head, but it was a different one from the one originally put on his head. This one had little flowers and was lighter, he could make out some light in the room around him. It also didn’t smell like acidic alcohol vomit which was a plus.

He actually didn’t smell any vomit at all, which was probably why he was now shirtless and being cleaned by whoever grabbed him. He shivered under the feeling of the cold water on his skin. The hand cleaning him paused and pulled away. Henry heard someone heavy stomp out of the room behind him, probably to go share his change in status with who ever else had grabbed him. That could be bad or good, he couldn’t determine just yet.

Henry shifted in his seat trying to get more information before the others returned.

He was sitting in a chair, wood with a squishy cushion under his ass. Legs and arms zip tied to the arms and legs if the thin plastic straps were to go by. He still had his jeans on, but he felt a bit of wetness around his waist band that belied the cleaning that had happen to him.

He couldn’t hear anything but the soft sound of ceiling fan and his breath, telling him where ever he was, he wasn’t in a place with a lot of street traffic because even the best insulated building could keep the sound of the street out. He was able to shuffle his feet against the floor a bit and knew there was wood beneath him and no rug.

His head pounded and his stomach churned as he heard foot steps approaching again. Momentarily he cursed himself for his lack of hunger recently because he could do with a burger right around now. And a gallon of water. And maybe a shot of tequila.

He tensed when he heard two chairs pull up in front of him and preemptively closed his eyes as he felt the bag on his head pull up. He took a few deep, rattling breaths, sucking up the precious air he hadn’t realized he was missing in the musty cloth of the bag and trying to focus on the room around him.

It took a few shakes of his head and blinking at the room around him before it finally came into focus. If he didn’t know better, he would think he had a head injury. Vaguely Henry wondered if he was a bit to far gone in terms of hunger as he took in the two men in front of him.

The two men were waiting patiently for him to collect himself, one looking concerned the other stony faced. Both seemed to be about the same age and height, though the concerned one was a big on the bulky prize fighter size, the other looking like a model or a jungle cat turned human. Both were wearing well cared for black cargo pants and black shirts, Concerned wearing short sleeves that showed off tattoos and burns, Jungle cat wearing a black turtleneck that covered more of his body but made him seem dangerous. Henry realized there had to be at least one knife not to mention any guns under those clothes. They even wore matching military style combat boots.

Henry finally caught his breath and decided to gasp out his questions to get this over with.

“Why didn’t you just kill me?” The words surprised everyone, even their speaker. Henry gulped and realized with a bit of surprise that he was disappointed they hadn’t done just that. Killed him and gotten it over with.

“Shit Kid, most people wanna know what we want not why we didn’t just off them in the street.” Concerned growled and looked angry enough to punch something. Henry wondered for a minute what made him angry, his lack of self-perseverance or his assumption of his actions.

“Just looking at you it doesn’t look like you need any help in that department. When was the last time you ate?” Jungle Cat asked, his eyes narrowing noticeably and moving over his body with a calculating look.

Henry blinked and shook his head, trying to make sense of the two men holding him prisoner. What did it matter if he had eaten anything recently? Henry just sighed and decided to humor them.

“Two days? Maybe? I don’t know. I meant to eat something yesterday but… it doesn’t matter. Look if you don’t want to kill me than can you tell me why I’m here?” Henry sighed with a since of defeat overwhelming his senses. He lobbed his head back waited for them to hit him or demand something from him or maybe even torture him for fun or profit.

He was surprised when Concerned growled and stood up, knocking his chair to the ground and stomped out of the room to slam a door hard enough behind him that Henry saw a bit of plaster shake off the wall and crash to the ground. He blinked at Jungle Cat who sighed and whispered something to the ceiling before he moved closer to the chair Henry was strapped too.

“We wanted some info about the Santinis. But you just had to go and trigger Mick’s mother hen instincts. So, this is going to be fun.” Jungle cat grumbled as he pulled out a knife. He held it up and pointed it at Henry’s face. “Try not to move, if I hurt you Mick is going to be insufferable.”

Henry nodded, his body stiffening at the sight of the weapon which he watched with bated breath. He blinked when the knife slipped between the plastic on his skin and the skin itself and jerked up to cut through the zip ties hold him down in quick succession. Jungle Cat put the knife away and grabbed Henry by the arm to haul him up. Henry swayed at the sudden change in position and grabbed on the dangerous man like a life line as the world blurred in front of his eyes only to refuse to sharply then back off again.

Jungle Cat patiently held him still letting Henry regain his balance with a hand hold his triceps and the other holding his wrist. When Henry stopped swaying and went from green to pale white boy again, he loosened his grip and started pulling him to the door.

“I hope it goes without saying, but if you try anything, I’m going to hog tie you and hand you from a light pole outside a police station.” Jungle Cat whispered as he pulled open the door and began to pull Henry into to the rest of a surprisingly comfortable looking apartment. Henry just nodded and let the man drag him into a living room, too surprised and disorientated to really hear the words.

Concerned/Mick was banging around a kitchen with old 70’s cabinets but newish looking appliances, grabbing plates and pans and pots and cans. Henry was confused as a sandwich appeared in front of him before Concerned/Mick started chopping up an onion. He poked the two pieces of bread with what looked like chicken salad between them with a concerned finger and looked over at Jungle Cat with a question on his face.

“Just eat it Kid, Mick’s going to be busy cooking dinner and will be upset if you pass out again before then.” Jungle Cat directed with a dismissive hand gesture.

Henry sighed, took a bite and was surprised by not only how good it was but how hungry he was. His whole world became the sandwich and how it filled the empty void inside him. It wasn’t enough, his insanely thin frame and less healthy eating habits of late had made it so his body was in need more substance than a single sandwich could satisfied. When it was done, he looked wistfully at the plate, only to notice the sounds around him for the first time since he started.

Mick was focused on making something that made him drool at the smell of garlic and onion while Jungle Cat was focused only on him. Henry realized he was being examined like a mystery waiting to be solved. He pushed the plate away and looked straight into the other man’s cold eyes. Which made him blush when he noticed the beautiful blue shade of them.

“Why do you think I could give you information about the Santinis?” Henry asked nervously.

“You work for them.” Jungle Cat drawled, leaning back to drum his fingers on the table. “Though why they would work with a junkie is beyond me.”

“I am not a junkie.” Henry growled before turning his wrists out and show of the expanse of skin on his forearms. The skin was smooth, if a bit pale and translucent over the veins. Not a single needle mark or scar to be seen.

“You coulda fooled me Scarecrow.” Mick grumbled, bring over a sugar filled soda and plate with a few cookies on it. Henry blinked and took the offered food staring after the man who returned to his stove.

“My apologies, usually idiots who look like you do because they are riding the horse.” Jungle Cat chuckled before swiping on his cookies.

“Well I’m not. I drink every now then, but never anything stronger than vodka.” Henry grumbled shoved one of the cookies into his mouth.

“How old are you Kid?” Jungle Cat asked with a sneer, the amusement leaving his face when Henry mentioned alcohol.

“16, 17 in a month.” Henry said with a bit of challenge.

“Does your momma know your running around with mobsters?” Mick snarled from the stove, banging loudly when he turned to glare at Henry again.

“Seeing as she’s dead I doubt it matters.” Henry glared back before he finished off the last cookie and chased with the soda, which he downed in a single chug.

“And Daddy Dearest got you working for the family?” Jungle Cat asked slowly like he was resisting the urge to put Henry in his place, or he was worried that Henry would lash out. Henry just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“My ‘Daddy’ would have a cow and several other barn yard animals if he knew I was working for the Santinis or doing anything illegal period. He’s dead too. Almost a year now.”

“So, Dad dies, and you decide to… join a crime family, carry a gun and stop eating? Why not just off yourself and not work for the worse of the worse?” Jungle Cat asked coolly. Mick seemed ticked off at the man for his comment and Henry felt a warm sensation in his stomach at the man’s defensiveness.

“Its not all linked.” Henry dismissed finally sitting back to look around the apartment. He figured they two men must actually work there but he wondered what the room he was tied up in earlier was for.

“You brought me to your home.” Henry said slowly, not wanting to talk about his family anymore.

“What makes you think that?” Jungle Cat said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair and putting a foot on the table in front of him.

“Everything is too nice to be a random flop house. Mick, I think that’s what you called him, knew where everything in the kitchen is. You have your back to the door. Seems like a place you are comfortable and don’t expect anyone to follow you to. Also, Mick is nodding at me.” Henry gestured to the smiling man and ran his hand over his face, trying to wake himself up a bit more.

“You passed out, Mick was worried. Figured we should protect our investment.” Jungle Cat stated with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Investment?” Henry laughed, wrapping his arms over his bare chest as he shivered slightly now that he wasn’t so angry, or filled with panic. These two guys seemed to be too collected to really want to hurt him.

“Time.” Mick answered as he moved a pot to the sink to drain off some water. “He means to make sure we didn’t waste no time on a corpse.”

Henry chuckled and leaned against the table. He was ready to just get things over with.

“You know no matter what, I’m dead. If I tell you anything I know about the Santinis they will kill me, and if I don’t I suspect you will kill me too. Why then, shouldn’t I just lay back and let you empty a round in my head? If the outcome is the same no matter what.”

“Why would we kill you? Why not just let you go?” Jungle Cat said with a careful drawl.

Henry blinked and shrugged.

“Why keep me alive? I’ve seen your face.”

“Santinis already know about us and hate us kid. You being able to tell ol’ Vinny that Mick and I snatched you won’t make a difference. He might just give you a partner for your runs for a while, but if nothing happens you might even get a promotion.”

“Or he will put that bullet in my head in his office and let his captain’s clean up the blood and viscera.”

“Shit kid, you wanna die so much why not do it yourself and save the trouble?” Mick grumbled as he put a large bowl of pasta in front of him followed by a stack of plates and 3 mismatched forks. Henry leaned away from the newly appeared food and dishes to look the angry looking cook.

“Maybe I will. Doesn’t matter either way.” He said slowly and let his face harden when he saw the two men look at each other. He didn’t want anyone’s pity or to try and fix him.

“I always knew that the Santinis only went for people with death wishes, just didn’t expect for it to be proven to me.” Jungle Cat drawled in a voice that was tinged now with steel. He leaned forward and hovered over Henry just slightly in a menacing way. “Look Kid, I don’t know what happened to your family, but your young. Why the will to die?”

Henry growled, grabbing the edge of the table and holding it in a steely grip. He glared at the man who didn’t know what he was talking about.

“What happened to my family? I’ll tell you what happened to my family. My mother was murdered, in front of me, and instead of listening to me about what happened the cops arrested my father. One of them was my parent’s friend and he still arrested my father and help convict him. Then my dad had to live for 4 years knowing that people thought he killed his wife and that his child was being shuffled from foster home to foster home. Then, during a riot, he gets stabbed in the back because he sees someone injured has to help.”

None of the other men said anything, just looked at him with sad eyes before moving to serve up the food Mick had put together.

“So, instead of trying to live and prove that your father was innocent, or make him proud, you decide to be the criminal he never was and slowly kill yourself. Think that’s what your dad wanted.” Jungle Cat careful chastised him as he slipped the plate in front of Henry. Henry grumbled and stared at the mound of food waiting for him to eat it.

“I… didn’t have the intention of dying.” Henry said slowly as he grabbed a fork and started playing with food in front of him, mixing it around. “I just wanted to work for someone that worked against the cops who failed the people or at least me.”

“And the not eating, the drinking, the not giving a crap about living? What was that? Second thoughts?” Jungle Cat asked when Mick finally sat down next to him with a couple of bottles of beer. Henry stared at the drink and considered grabbing one for himself. He knew he was only so talkative because he was still pretty sure he was a dead man walking, but a beer would have really helped right about now.

“I don’t think that has anything to do with my dad.” Henry said honestly, snatching the beer Mick had put in front of Jungle Cat and draining half of its contents before either man could say a word. He swallowed with a gasping breath and slammed the bottle down with force. “Most of my problems have to do Detective Joe West.”

Mick and Jungle Car laughed, a for real full body belly laugh. Henry felt himself turning red with anger at the sound. He felt like they were mocking him.

“You welcome death-“ Jungle Cat started as he was still rocking with laughter.

“Cause of a pig.” Mick finished before he chugged his beer and got up to get another, this time collecting 3 bottles for all the men.

“He arrested my father. Testified against him, putting him in jail and ignoring my statement and the evidence. He fought against everyone of my father’s appeals, and even tried to bar me from seeing him when he found out my social worker was taking me to see him. And to top all this off, he’s going to be a part of my daughter’s life and probably help raise her. You would probably a little less then hopeful too if the man who ruined your life was going to be allowed to ruin your kid’s life too and there is nothing you can do.” Henry angerly informed them, his voice getting louder and louder until he was yelling at them, feeling his neck heat up with anger and his eyes fill with tears.

There were several seconds where Henry shook with anger, the beer bottle cracking beneath his hand as he tried to take a sip to steady himself. The two men didn’t react, just seemed to wait for him calm down. When his breath finally evened out, he wiped his eye and stabbed the pasta in front of him to take a bite.

“Your daughter? You knock your girlfriend up Kid?” Jungle Cat finally broke the silence once Henry had eaten 3 bites of the pasta dish.

“Best friend, never dated, just had a one-night stand when I got my GED. I know, we just had to be over achievers.” Henry responded dully with a wave of his fork before he shoveled another mouth full of food in.

“A condom usually helps.” Mick grunted.

“Well I won’t be making that mistake again, now will I? I’ve been burning through an economy box of condoms ever since I found out.” Henry grumbled as he moved back to playing with his food.

Jungle Cat stiffened and looked over Mick, seeming to have a silent conversation. Henry didn’t care, he just nursed his beer and took a few half-hearted bites of the food he has been given. He didn’t care about whatever the two were thinking about, his life wasn’t for them to worry about.

“Why is the Detective in your kid’s life?” Jungle Cat finally asked, only the tapping of his fingers on his bottle making it clear that it wasn’t a friendly question. Henry appreciated that the man wanted to know what was going on around him.

“Because her mother is his daughter.” Henry said finally pushing the food away, too annoyed to chase away the hunger eating at his stomach. He rather just cut to the chase and get the whole dying thing over with. They weren’t even asking about the Santinis.

“You knocked up the detective’s daughter?” Mick started laughing again, but Jungle Cat looked cold and distant in his seat.

“Why not try and get custody?” Jungle Cat asked, looking like he was finishing a puzzle and didn’t like the picture.

“Because I’m 16, the son of a convicted murderer, living in a tiny studio apartment and on paper working part time in restaurant and taking college classes part time. Because I’ve been out and open about my hate for West. Because no matter what, if Iris wants to raise her daughter, our daughter, she should be allowed to.” Henry sighed and slumped in his chair. “Because my daughter deserves more than me.”

Jungle Cat sighed and pushed his plate and bottle away.

“You are really messed up aren’t you kid.”

“If you say so.” Henry shrugged and took another bite of his now cold pasta. “Are you guys going to ask your questions or not? I’d like to get this show on the road.”

Mick chuckled and stood up to rummage in the fridge. Jungle Cat sighed and stood up to stand over Henry with a weary look.

“Neither. Both. None of the above.” He said slowly.

“Excuse me?” Henry looked at the man in disbelief.

“We’re going to keep you. Until you’re a bit more… steady. Whole.” Jungle Cat informed him before he moved to go sit on the couch and grab a magazine, which he proceeded to read like Henry was never there.

“I’m sorry you are what now?” Henry looked between the two men who seemed to move into their routine as if he wasn’t there. “Why? How?”

“We keep you, get you feed, watch the booze, not that I care but moderation right, you tell us some stuff about the Santinis so we can hit them, and we teach you some skills you can use on the job so you’re not just a hired gun. I take you to your classes, Len teaches you shit. You sleep here and we don’t hunt you down.” Mick informed as he brought over bowl of jello with whipped cream.

Henry stared at the food. He felt himself start to cry and his hand shaking as he touched bowl in an attempt to take it. He was shaking so badly that he couldn’t take it on the first attempt, needing a second to hold the bowl steady.

“Why?” He croaked as he eyed the desert.

“Because you have potential and I’ve seen enough kids destroyed by bad cops.” Jungle Cat/Len drawled. “And you are worth it for your kid.”

Henry sighed and spooned a serving of the desert to his mouth.

“How do you know I wont just walk out and end myself? Or find a Santini associate and tell them about this?” He asked softly.

“Because if you didn’t really want to live, you wouldn’t have been so angry or let Mick feed you.”

Henry swallowed his food and wiped his eyes. He hadn’t noticed he was crying until that point.

“You don’t know my name.” He finally choked out, replacing his spoon as he began to feel sick.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re smart and you got guts. You will be a great thief, that’s what we do, better than you will ever be as cugine. If you can be part of some great heists and make a good impression on the underworld. You just can’t do in a family. If you want us to know who we are working with then that’s on you. If we don’t know your name it would be harder to find you if you do leave though.” Jungle Cat/Len informed him with a chuckle as he flipped through the pages on his magazine.

Henry looked down at the table, not wanting to see Mick making a cursory attempt to clean up and Jungle Cat/Len seem to be treating him like he was the cat, just waiting for him to make his move. His stomach rolled, the full sensation being unfamiliar and almost painful after him going so long with skipping most meals. Finally, he rested his head in his hands and sighed.

“Henry, Henry Allen.” His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke, almost like he wanted to be able to take it back when he wanted to be able to take it back. He was surprised when the energy in the room changed and finally dragged his eyes up to see the two men looking at him with stiff backs.

“Allen as in Doc Allen? From Iron Heights?” Len asked slowly, losing his jungle cat look for the first time, looking almost like a scared boy.

“Yeah, that was my dad.” Henry acknowledged though he was still confused.

“I didn’t know he died.” Mick grunted, the first one to relax before he moved to clean up more of his pots, like Henry just told him to wash everything before he went to bed.

“I thought his kid was named Barry.” Len said with a narrowed gaze, his eyes burning into his skin.

“It was, I go by my middle name now. My birth certificate says Bartholomew Henry Allen. Both can be my name, I just choose to be Henry.”

“So, Doctor Henry Allen dies, and Barry dies with him, so that Henry Allen the crook can rise?” Len said dangerously. Henry began to bristle a little, like he was expecting an attack at any moment.

“Something like that. My dad never broke a single rule in his life and he still died in jail. I figured I could punish the system by doing the stuff they accused men like my dad of doing and not getting caught. Why do I care about what happens to the police, they don’t do their jobs anyways.”

“I doubt the Doc would like what you’re doing.”

“He wouldn’t but he’s dead. He shouldn’t be, but he is.”

Len stared at him for a full minute before sighing and groaning, stretching out like cat trying to find the sunny spot.

“I’m going to send Mick to your place to get some clothes. Maybe grab you a bed for the guest room. Anything you need, or you going to tell us that you are also a Buddhist monk who took a vow of poverty?” Len spoke more to the ceiling than to Henry, but he took a second to think anyways.

“There is a picture on my fridge. It’s of… of my daughter Nora. There is a photo album under my bed. Other than that, my couch is new, if you are cool with that.” Henry looked around the room and noted the space in the room. “Otherwise, I don’t have much. A coffee can full of the cash I’ve earned from the Santinis, some clothes, a second hand tv. That’s it.”

“Fine. We’ll talk in the morning. Get some sleep kid.” Len dismissed him.

“Should I go back to the room you had me tied in?” Henry asked before he got up. The movement sent pain through his more abused muscles from being carried by his capture from a car up the stairs and being tied to a chair. He groaned and whimpered a little.

“Take our bed, I’ll move you when I got your bed set up.” Mick grumbled, his eyes looking concerned even as his face scowled. He looked like he wanted to grab Henry and examine him. Henry blushed at the sudden concern.

“You don’t need to move me, I can usually wake up easily. Can’t be a heavy sleeper in a foster home.”

Mick just grunted and pointed him to one of the other doors in the room.

Henry moved to the door, stopping only to look at the two men who moved to sit next to each other, clearly ready to talk about him.

“Thanks. I still think I’m going to wind up dead, but thanks”

“Go to bed kid, you can thank us later.” Len waved him off.

When Henry hit the incredible soft bed, he sighed and drifted off right away. These men could help him hurt the CCPD and seemed… fun.

Henry could use some fun. He hadn’t had much in years.


	3. Poking the Bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't name the lawyer because he wasn't that important and i wont be using him again.  
> Just imagine Saul from Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. Thats who i was imagining.  
> Also the name for the jewelers is arabic for High Fashion. Because it sounded fun?

_*FIVE AND HALF YEARS AFTER DOCTOR HENRY ALLEN'S DEATH*_

Henry almost gave up on freeing his key from the lock on his front door when it finally came free and he was able to throw his jacket on to the floor near the door. He didn’t even bother with the light as he undid the laces of his boots, kicked them to join the jack in a pile, threw his shirt on top of it all and secured the dead bolt. He worked his belt undone and pulled it out as he made his way to his bed. His keys, wallet and cell phone where the only thing he stopped to take care of before he collapses on top of the comforter, grabbed a pillow and curled up to fall asleep.

He hated all-nighters and he wanted as much sleep as possible with the day he had planned ahead.

He got maybe 30 minutes before his world exploded.

His door crashed open with three police offices wearing riot gear and guns out, sweeping the room as then entered and yelled for everyone to get down. Henry rolled over to his back, put his hands in the air and didn’t say a word, just fought the urge to smile. One of the officer’s grabbed him by the arm, pulled him out of his bed and shoved him on the ground where he proceeded to cuff his hands behind his back. Henry resisted the urge to laugh as the flash light from one of the cops shined into his face, just barely as he did snort.

Behind the officers he saw 2 familiar looking detectives and lost the war, a wide grin spreading over his face. Detectives Fred Chyre and Joe West glared at him as they approached the position where he was being held.

“Bartholomew Henry Allen, we have a warrant for your arrest and to search the premises. You want to make this easier and point us to what we are looking for?” Joe declared as he pulled out two pieces of paper and shoved them in his face. Henry snickered and let his head drop back to lean against the floor.

“I have no idea what you’re looking for. I just got home for work. I think you have the wrong guy Detective, but then that’s not exactly new for you now is it.” Henry sighed and tried to roll his shoulders and stretch his back against the discomfort of the position. The officer over him shoved his shoulders down into the floor and made him hiss in pain.

“Fine, make it harder for yourself, the DA won’t take your lack of cooperation lightly.” Chyre grumbled as he stepped over Henry’s legs to grab the contents of his pockets to examine them.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for detectives, but I did nothing wrong. And I want my lawyer.” Henry snickered to himself as the officer hauled him on to his feet and started to pull him out of the apartment.

“You can call him down at the station, get him out of here.” Joe growled, his scowl deepening at Henry’s lack of seriousness.

As Henry was pulled away from the detectives and towards the front door, blinking a bit at the sudden increase of light on his eyes, he couldn’t help getting in one last barb.

“Hey, its cold outside, don’t get some shoes or a jacket?” He called with his voice rich with his laughter, knowing full well he was just pissing off the cops and CSI that where now flooding into his tiny apartment.

He was reward with seeing Joe snap as the other man stomped over to where Henry was being held by the officer who seemed just as pissed at him as Joe was.

“You think this is funny Barry? Does this seem like some big joke to you? People are dead, you heartless monster.” Joe slammed Henry against the door jab, ripping him from the officer holding him hand’s and knocking the breath from his lungs. Henry started laughing as he gasped for breath.

“I’m sorry for them, but I. Didn’t. Do. It.” He said between gasps, letting his head lull back as the laughter racked his body. Joe fumed and slammed his fist into the wall next to his head.

“Get him out of here now before I do something we’ll both regret.”

The officer pulling him away and started reading him his rights as he led him down the hall and the stairs. Henry dragged his feet to make it hard for him to pull him towards the squad cars parked nearby.

The cop pulled him roughly and quickly shoved him in to the back seat of a squad car. Henry smiled when he saw reporters on the outside of the perimeter the cops had set up and uniformed officers taking statements from his neighbors. Henry laughed again knowing that his neighbors where too far on the wrong side of the law to give them anything worth the paper the cops were using.

Henry let himself doze as they drove him to the station, his body missing the sleep he was dragged from now that the adrenaline was receding. The ride took almost no time though and Henry was dragged grumbling into the station and upstairs to the main bull pen. He smiled broadly as he was dragged through the maze of desks, winking at Captain Singh and District Attorney Cecile Horton when he saw them standing outside the Captain’s office with a file.

He wasn’t at all surprised when he was taken to an interview room instead of a holding cell. He relaxed as the now cranky and frowning officer switched out his cuffs for a table attached shackles. He called out to their retreating backs another demand for his lawyer and smirked when the officer glared at him before slamming the door.

Henry was really enjoying the start of his day.

He didn’t have to wait long before Singh and Horton came into the room with the folder they had been reviewing when he was walked through. Henry smiled as the took their seats and seemed intent on examining his form before talking.

“Five murders, the thief of three million dollars’ worth of custom couture jewelry and loose gems and metals, arson, and grand thief auto. Pretty serious charges Mr. Allen.” Singh broke the silence taking pictures out of a crime scene, murdered people in said crime scene and fire damage.

“Shocking, didn’t do it, Lawyer.” Henry said calmly as he leaned back in his seat to close his eyes. He stopped himself from smiling when he heard Singh huff.

“We’ve put word into the public defender’s office.” Cecile responded with a small smile, obviously feeling like she had a slam dunk. “We can’t make a deal without one of course.”

“Not going to be a deal and I don’t need a defender. I have a lawyer.” Henry grabbed one of the pictures and held out his hand to Captain Singh. “Pen please.”

Once he has secured a pen from the unhappy looking man, he wrote a phone number on the back of the photo and shoved it into the DA’s hand.

“Tell them Henry Allen is calling. They’ll get here in less than an hour.” Henry smiled at the pair opposite of him. “Now am I going to get put into holding cell soon or am I going to have to sleep here while I wait?”

“You’ll wait for your lawyer here.” Singh advised as he gathered up his papers and left with the DA. Henry sighed as he leaned against the table, wanting to try and get a little bit of sleep.

This was the part of Len’s plan he hated. Sitting and waiting. He would rather be in the bed in his apartment getting a little bit of sleep.

Not that he actually used his apartment much, just for cover.

The wait for his attorney wasn’t long and he was wakened up by the door opening sooner rather than later.

“Hey Henry.” The man he had hired months before in preparation for this day. Henry groaned and tired to smile. He really didn’t like the man. “Looks like things have gone a bit tits up for you?”

“Hmm I’ve heard. I didn’t do it. Just so you know.”

“Oh, I doubt you could do anything this messy.” The sleeve ball laughed and took the seat next Henry. “What do you want to do?”

“You bring your laptop?” Henry asked leaning against the table and smiling at the two way mirror he was sure was hiding at least the two detectives who arrested him.

“And your financial records and the contracts for your last few gigs. Shouldn’t we talk a bit though?” The lawyer adjusted his tie and looked nervous. He unloaded all items in questions from his ratty suitcase and placed them on the table in front of him.

“Just pretend your worth the money I paid you and let me do what I need to do.” Henry sighed and grabbed the items to move them closer to him. “Get the DA.”

The lawyer sighed and went to the door, poked his head out and called to DA Horton. The DA returned the room with Singh and, to Henry’s amusement, Joe West. Joe took up a spot on the wall near the door while Singh and Cecile took their seats again.

“Are you ready to make a deal Mr. Allen?” Cecile asked as she tapped her file on the table.

“Now, Ms. Horton, why would we do that when my client is an innocent victim of police harassment?” Henry’s lawyer asked with a swarmy smile.

“Captain Singh, I have no idea why I am here, I was asleep in bed and your officers burst into my place and cuffed me.” Henry said with a blank face, trying to hide his smugness.

“Then explain why we found your finger prints all over the scene, your DNA in the backroom and your name, number and address on the back of a business card in one of the victim’s wallets?” Joe asked smugly. “Even have security footage of you casing the joint.”

“Detective, I know its been while but there is a very easy explanation for all of that. Which you would know if you were any good at your job.” Henry said calmly.

“Then explain it to us.” Cecile asked, spreading the photos out again and placing her hands strategically to showcase some of the carnage. “Because right now you look good for this and I don’t want to put young kid like you in jail for life.”

Henry smiled, his trap was laid.

“I take it this is about the Mudat Ealia Jewelers robbery two nights ago? Seeing as that’s the branding I see in those pictures?” Henry asked touching one of the bloodier images. The looks past between the officers of the law all the proof he needed.

“Which you know because you were there. Just admit and make it easier for yourself Barry, give the families some peace.” Joe said, trying to sound kind but coming off smug.

“I know about it because I was fucking one of the people who worked there. Often in the back room at night. They liked to see me dripping in pearls.” Henry said with a smile and wink. “As for the actual robbery, I have an alibi.”

Before anyone could react, Henry’s lawyer grabbed his laptop, opened it and started typing in Henry’s website. He turned it to the DA and smiled.

“My Client, HENRY Allen, had what is commonly called a gig last night.” He said as he hit play on the most recent video and footage taken at The Velvet Rope two nights prior started playing, Henry singing the cover of a Shinedown song on stage.

“I front a band for the club two nights a week. It doesn’t pay much but it sure is fun, and I’m getting some notoriety. I even played a few weddings.” Henry explained as Singh pulled the laptop closer and began to examine the website.

“How do we know that footage was taken on the night in question?” Cecile asked looking tense and shooting Joe a glare.

“Besides the fact it was originally live streamed as part of live concert thing I’m doing to get more ‘non-club’ work?” Henry asked sarcastically with a tap on the table. “You could also ask the manager or owner, the bartender, the bouncers, the band. There were a lot of people there.”

The cops in the room shared a look and Joe moved forward to lean against the table glaring as he made eye contact.

“Then explain why we found $50,000 in cash in your apartment Barry. What’s a kid like you doing with cash like that?” He sneered like he won the fight, looking proud of himself.

“That would be the proceeds of my client’s other job detective.” Henry’s lawyer said with a smile as he pulled out some paperwork from his briefcase that contained his last 2 tax returns.

“You know, the one that actually pays the bills?” Henry said with a smirk.

“Mr. Allen works as what you would call an exotic dancer.” Henry’s lawyer looked proud as he produced a flyer for BJ’s that featured Henry in nothing but his thong.

“It pays well and gives me time for my music.” Henry said with a shit eating grin as Singh grabbed the flier.

“You… strip.” Joe looked horrified and disgusted. Henry tried not to take offense, it was too amusing.

“Two to three nights a week. I’m make off pretty well too. Usually make $2000-3000 a night, but I have to work the whole night for that. Last night I did a private show, I was supposed to settle up with my manager this afternoon.” Henry smiled as he leaned back as much as possible showing off his bare chest a bit more.

Where once he was skinny enough to count his ribs, now he was muscle and fit. No longer was Henry a dead man waiting for that final push. He looked like a man who loved life and lived it. Which, he did.

“Your client is aware there is such things as bank accounts?” Cecile asked as she looked over the tax returns with increasing irritation.

“I have one, but I don’t see the need to deposit almost $10000 a week. My landlord takes cash, I am not a big online shopping guy and my expense are low. I deposit maybe $1000 a week to cover stuff I’d need to use a debit card for, but otherwise I like cash. But to be fair, about every 6 months I do deposit what cash I have on hand. For safety.” Henry smirked, knowing that even if they pulled up all his bank records, they couldn’t prove anything else.

“I brought with me Mr. Allen’s contracts for his last 10 gigs, including his current run as twice a week entertainer at The Velvet Rope, his contract with the exotic dance club called BJ’s and a copy of his lease and his bank records. Please take a look. You’ll see my client is all on the up and up.” Henry’s lawyer said as he pushed his last folder towards Cecile Horton. Henry smiled knowing the records went complete. None of them showed the payment of $1000 dollars he sent Iris West every other week and the weekly payment of $500 he deposited into the 529 he set up for Nora West. No need for Joe to know about his contact with his family.

“What happened to you Bear? You were such a smart kid, you could have gone to college and been something.” Joe ignored what the lawyer said and looked Henry in the eyes like he was trying to reach him on a father son level. Henry actually laughed.

“I did some college. I got an associates in accounting. I actually do all the other dancer’s taxes for them each year, and the bar tenders, and everyone else who works in the clubs. It gives me a little extra fun money.” Henry snickered at the surprise on the other man’s face.

“I’m sure you understand we need to look into this.” Captain Singh cut in as he pushed the laptop back towards the pair, Henry noting he had a notepad with a few notes added by his right hand. He smiled at the look on the man’s face. Singh was a good cop and was annoyed that they may have arrested an innocent man.

Henry wasn’t an innocent man, just not guilty of this crime.

“I take it you won’t be rushing to arraignment then? I mean you haven’t even processed him yet, have you?” Henry’s lawyer asked.

“We are going to place your client in a holding cell for now, while we check his alibi.” Cecile clarified. She gathered up her papers and Henry’s paperwork. “You can wait in our lounge.”

Henry’s lawyer glanced over at him and he gave a soft nod.

“I have some phone calls to make and paperwork to finish anyways.” Henry’s lawyer grabbed his laptop and started picking up what he has left. He then took a quick picture of Henry once he was done. “My client is currently unharmed and cute, I expect him to still look like this when you release him. And you will be releasing him.”

Henry laughed again as Singh undid his shackles and cuffed him for the walk back to the holding cells. He smiled at sight of the TV on the desk of the officer in charge of the cells.

He wasn’t going to miss the show.

Henry waved to snarkily at Singh as he walked away and settled onto the bench that would let him see the TV screen.

He didn’t have to wait long, thought he was sure he fell asleep at one point.

The officer turned up the TV as reports of a shoot out between the remaining Santini family and the actual jewelry store robbers was being reported on.

What the cops hadn’t known was that the store had been protected and hitting it was an act of war.

Henry almost felt bad for the idiots who took the job when Len offered it with the excuse of too much heat on him. But then he remembered that one of them had smacked around Len’s sister and the other two had less than savory records.

He could hear the cops outside the holding cells running and arming themselves and settled in to watch the show knowing that the cops weren’t going to look good.

It wasn’t as exciting as he hoped, but still a good show.

The Santinis had been too pissed at the hit to one of their biggest cash cows to act rationally and had tried to hit the actual thieves when they were at one of their wives’ diner. It meant there was a lot of unnecessary lost of innocent life, and the news camera was focused on the front. While most of the gore and death wasn’t being shown, it still picked up some of the blood from those shot outside the restaurant.

The cops showed up and the Santinis opened fired on the first squad car to show up. Henry was surprised to one of the thieves try and make a run for it out a broken window on the side and getting shot up by a goombah smart enough to watch the store while the other were distracted by the cops arriving at the screen. A death that was caught on live TV.

Finally, the news station realized that people were dying, or at least that broadcasting a live execution was bad, and switched to the studio.

Henry settled on to the bench and curled up to fall asleep.

Now was time for the long wait.

Henry didn’t know how much time had passed between the broadcast and DA Cecile Horton and his lawyer appearing at the front of the cell, his lawyer holding some clothes and Cecile looking distraught.

“You verify my alibi?” He asked with a yawn as he stretched out the kinks in his back.

“The charges have been dropped and your arrest vacated.” Cecile said with a tense tired voice.

“You find the actual thieves?” Henry asked teasingly knowing the answer all ready.

“You’ve been cleared, please put on the clothes your lawyer brought you and go. The department will be providing you with a hotel room until your apartment has been cleared tomorrow. You have my apologies.” Cecile replied robotically before she turned and walked away leaving Henry with his lawyer.

“Was it bad?” Henry asked quietly as he pulled on the oversized shirt with Han Solo posing with his blaster and started to loosen the laces on the sneakers he had been given.

“Twenty-five dead, including four officers and five minors. No one in the dinner survived. The Santini’s were really pissed.” His lawyer said calmly as he eyed the officer watching the news as he filled out paperwork at his desk.

“Damn it. Why couldn’t those idiots have at least the smarts to try and lay low.” Henry grimaced as he pulled on his sneakers over his sockless feet. Whether it was from the discomfort of his sneakers on his bare feet or the loss of life no one but him would know.

“Your partners picked them for a reason, and it wasn’t their brains. They had the guns used in the Mudat Ealia on them and I heard one of the detectives confirm that the stolen goods were all found in one of their apartments. They didn’t even try to hide them or divide them.” His lawyer said dryly. “You going to take the offered hotel room?"

“They are just offering it to know where I am to watch me. Call the boss and tell him I’ll be out front in about forty minutes.” Henry dismissed as he pulled on the last piece of offered clothing, a familiar smoke scented hoodie that draped over his body like comfort blanket. He smiled and lifted it to his nose to sniff it to let it ground him before he left. He ignored the eye roll the lawyer gave him before he zipped up.

“You’re not planning something stupid, are you?” His lawyer asked with sigh.

“Define stupid.” Henry said as he walked past the lawyer with a pat on the shoulder as he did so, knowing the man would be following behind him. The lawyer sighed and pulled out his cell phone to make the call as he did.

In the bull pen the cops looked more subdued, a few people sitting at the desks giving their statements or otherwise talking to the officer sitting there looking shocked or teary or angry. Joe was standing near the elevator with Singh and Chrye talking lowly and looking angry. Henry noticed a reporter he had seen at the scene of his arrest talking to Cecile Horton of the side with her phone out to record the statement she was receiving. He smiled and started lazily weaving between the desks.

Every officer, victim and family member he passed glared at him as he strolled past wit his bright knowing smile. He could feel the anger building up around him.

He stopped just to the side of Joe and waited for his lawyer to finish his call.

“I heard you found the actual criminal Joe. Good for you. Only took a bunch of innocent people to die of course, but you did got’em.” He said with a slow drawl and shit eating smile. He almost laughed out loud when Joe turned red and raised his hackles. Joe made this too easy.

“You think this is funny you little punk! People are dead!” Joe growled as he rounded on Henry and stopped just shy of grabbing him by the front of his hoodie. Henry could see his hands clenching and opening like he was barely holding himself back from grabbing the younger man taunting him. He also saw the journalist turn to the suddenly raised voices and Cecile blanche at the scene about to unfurl.

“I’m just saying if you had done your job in the first place and not jumped on the first innocent person you saw maybe you wouldn’t be planning any officer memorials.” Henry said slowly and calmly, not raising his voice or changing his tone from bored. Not wanting to give any external sign he was provoking the fight. He knew, however, that the reporter heard exactly what he said.

“Mr. Allen, we followed the evidence we had available, we may have acted a bit hastily, but it was all in good faith.” Singh butted in obviously wanting to defuse the situation. Henry appreciated his efforts.

“Maybe if you had been able to keep it in your pants you wouldn’t have been dragged down here.” Joe mumbled giving Henry an easy entrance. He could even see Singh stiffened in shock and realization. Henry didn’t give Singh a chance to save Joe though.

“Oh, so if I was a sexless monk, I wouldn’t have to worry about police brutality?” Henry raised his voice just enough to make sure that he could be heard on the recording the reporter was making now as she hurried to get closer and away from Cecile who was trying to distract her. “Maybe if your police department wasn’t so homophobic or prudish you could actually stop a crime in this city. But instead you’re too busy policing innocent citizen’s sex lives and arresting innocent people.”

Henry saw the shock cross the faces of the cops in front of him, including the anger building up in Joe and went in for the kill.

“I wonder just how many innocent people are dead now because of your bias Detective West. How many mothers and fathers have buried their children or children buried their parents because you didn’t take your time and do your job? I heard your death toll just upped by 25.” He said smoothly as he crossed his arms and the reporter got to the perfect distance to catch what he knew would happen next.

Joe’s fist hit him square in the jaw, snapping his head back and making him loose his balance and fall back on the ground. Henry made a feeble attempt to shield his face as Joe fell on him, landing blows on his face repeatedly before Singh snapped out of his surprise and hauled the detective off him.

Henry brought his hands to his face to feel the damage as Chyre and Singh hauled Joe away in an attempt to calm him down. He was pretty sure his nose was broken based on the swelling already setting in and the blood flowing from it. His ears were ringing too, drowning out all the noise around him and making the words being spoken duller for a bit.

Henry blinked as he was hauled up by his lawyer who was yelling something at Joe and Singh while Cecile tried to get in between them. The reporter was by his side and her mouth was moving and he realized she was asking him a question. He shook his head and tried to focus on her to answer whatever questions she had.

“I’m sorry ma’am I didn’t catch what you just said.” Henry said slowly, happy to find he was right about his jaw not being broken.

“No, I understand, I asked you if you needed an ambulance.” She asked trying to sound kind but her eyes flashing with the hunger only a journalist could bare.

“I have a ride on the way, they can take me to the ER. I’m not big on sirens and the like.” He tried to smile and grimaced when he pulled a bruise.

“Do you know why the detective attacked you?” She asked suddenly going professional and raising her phone to film his answer. Henry took a deep breath and cast a quick glance over to the cops still distracted with Joe who was being reprimanded by Singh while his lawyer was distracting Cecile with talks of a possible law suit.

“This morning the police broke into my house and took me into custody for a crime I did not commit. The real perpetrators of this crime were involved in a shoot out with member of organized crime and the CCPD later that morning. Instead of doing their job and trying to locate the actual criminals in the first place, CCPD deemed me the most likely suspect despite me have no criminal record and a normal law-abiding citizen working two jobs, just trying to make their way in the world. Their lack of due diligence lead to the deaths of twenty-five individuals, four of them member of their own police force and five of them children.” Henry said calmly, his voice making everyone in the bull pen quiet and Singh and Cecile stiffen when they realize what was happening.

Henry carried on like he didn’t have the eyes of thirty angry cops glaring at him.

“This isn’t my first interaction with the police force of course. When I was eleven detective Joe West, the man who just attacked me, arrested my father for a murder he didn’t commit and even testified at his trial to get him convicted. He and the rest of the CCPD will argue that all the evidence pointed to him and his arrest and conviction were justice being served. Of course they ignored a lot of that evidence, like how my father’s finger prints were only on top of the blood on the knife that killed her, none were on the handle at all, or how my father had no blood on his clothing except were cast of hit when he was pulled from my mother’s body, or the fact their were clearly signs of a struggle in the room she was found by there were no marks of a fight on either other them.”

Singh and Cecile were now moving in an attempt to stop him, but he was almost done. There was nothing they could do now.

“But I was just a scared child who witnessed it all, what would I know.” Henry turned to Singh and glared. “Captain Singh, I will be pressing charges against Detective West. Will be taking my statement?”

“Mr. Allen, do you think that is wise?” Singh started, obviously about to try and talk Henry out of it. The reporter cut him off before he could go any further.

“Wait, Allen? As in Dr. Henry Allen the surgeon who was convicted of killing his wife almost 10 years ago? Are you saying that the police ignored evidence in order to secure a conviction on Dr. Allen who subsequently died serving his prison term among reports that he was trying to assist an injured inmate?” Henry blinked at the reporter’s sudden excitement, impressed that woman knew so much. He wondered if his father’s case was a point of interest for her.

“One in the same. And yes, Captain I think it is wise to report a case of police brutality. Or do you think that police shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions.” Henry stared down Singh who glanced over at Cecile who nodded and robbed her temple. Singh sighed and lead Henry to his office while Cecile move to try and talk to the reporter again.

Henry smiled when he saw the reporter instead dial a number on her phone and walk past the DA without a second look, most likely telling her editor about the scoop she just received. Cecile stood there staring at the woman who was running down the stairs as she talked looking lost. Henry almost felt bad for her.

Making his complaint and giving his statement took a bit longer than he had expected but when he finally left Singh called Joe into his office and Henry just walked through the bull pen to the elevator. He was feeling pretty rewarded even with all the glares from the other detectives and officers. He was sure he even saw a few of them touch their guns as he passed.

He was ready to meet up with his partner and get his now really painful nose set when the elevator doors opened, and Iris stepped out with a little girl in her arms. Henry’s stride faltered when he took in the sight of his daughter in person for the first time. She looked just like the last photo Iris had sent him, making him happy that he didn’t keep any pictures in his apartment anymore.

Iris smiled when she saw him, which melted when she saw the dried blood and bruises on his face.

“Henry! What happened?” She asked with a worried tone as she rushed forward to examine his face.

“Someone decided to punch me in the face, repeatedly. I’m fine Iris, really.” Henry said softly, pulling way from her inquiring fingers. His eyes were focused on the little girl who was burrowing into Iris’s side with a shy smile. Iris saw where he was looking and smiled sadly. Henry could tell she wanted to call him her daddy in that instant but kept her promise to him and didn’t.

“Oh, right. Henry, this is my daughter Nora. Nora, this is one of mommy’s old friends, Henry.” Iris held the girl up a little higher so Henry could make eye contact. He tried to smile, feeling bad about how beat up he looked.

“Hi Nora, it’s nice to meet you.” Henry greeted the little girl and offered his hand. He was surprised when the little girl took it and shock it.

“Hi.” She said softly with a sweet smile before burying her face against Iris. Henry chuckled at looked over to Iris who was trying to not laugh herself.

“She is going through a shy phase.” Iris explained with a kiss on the top of her head. She then returned to his face and frowned “Were you making a report about the attack?”

“Kind of. Why are you here?” Henry tried to deflect while glancing back at Singh’s office with a bit of worry. He didn’t plan on Joe seeing him with Iris and getting upset about that too.

“I heard about the shoot out, and Nora and I thought we could make Papa Joe feel better with a little granddaughter time while I made a dinner run for everyone.” Iris smiled and kissed her daughter again making her giggle.

Henry gulped and glanced over again.

“He might need it.” Henry whispered and started to break away to hit the elevator call button. “Iris, I’m sorry, its been really nice talking to you but I have to go, I have a ride coming to take me to get my nose set.”

Iris blinked and looked surprised.

“Don’t they usually want you to get medical treatment first before you come to the station?”

“I was all ready at the station.” Henry said softly rocking on his heels impatiently as he waited for the elevator.

“Why were you at the station?’

“Iris!” Joe’s call prevented Henry from answering. Both of them turned to see Joe standing in the doorway of the Singh’s office with Singh right behind him looking concerned. Henry quickly noticed that Joe’s gun was missing from his waist and turned back to the elevator which gratefully opened right then.

“Sorry.” Henry winced when he saw how angry Joe was, his eyes locked on him and Iris like he was ready to break them apart anyway possible. Henry just rushed into the elevator, hit the ground button and mashed the close door button while Iris stared at her approaching father in confusion.

He caught her hurt look just before the doors closed.

When he got to the ground floor he frowned when he saw his lawyer near the exit still talking on his phone. The man quickly hung up and rushed to Henry’s side when he saw him.

“Man kid, you sure took a whooping.” He whistled.

“Thanks, it feels like it.” Barry grumbled despite to just get out of there.

“Once you get that thing patched up send me the bill and some pictures for the lawsuit.” His lawyer said as he turned to his phone to check something with a frown. “All your property should be released around lunch time tomorrow, I’ll have my secretary pick it up for you.”

“Thanks.” Henry sighed and slumped against the door he was about to push open. He needed a second before he saw the people he really wanted to see right now. “Looks like West is on desk duty.”

“He better be, or the CCPD is in bigger trouble than before. That reporter? She posted the video of your conversation with West and the beating and the follow up interview before she even left the building and it already has 10000 hits with more coming in. There are calls to reopen your old man’s case and calls for West’s badge already.” Henry’s lawyer showed him the video with the hit counter obviously hoping for a smile. Unfortunately, Henry’s jaw hurt too much to smile.

“That’s great. I got to go get those x-rays and my nose fixed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Henry left the man standing in the lobby looking flabbergasted and pushed into the setting sun light. He quickly saw the familiar car he was looking for and relaxed for the first time all day.

He all but ran to the car and slid into the back seat without a second look. Once the door was closed, he was surprised to see Len sitting next to him. He rushed forward to hug the man and plant a painful but needed kiss on his mouth.

“Shit Doll, you look rough.” Mick’s voice drifted from front seat making Henry pull away from Len to give the man a half smile.

“Joe has a killer right hook. We need to hit the ER so I can get my nose set.” Henry explained as he cuddled into Len’s side before moving away to click his seat belt in place. Mick pulled away with a grunt, driving a bit faster than necessary towards the hospital.

“More people died than I thought.” Len softly broke the silence as he took Henry’s hand.

“The Santinis must be hurting more than you thought. No one would have thought they would risk prohibition style street warfare.” Henry consoled with a squeeze of the hand in his.  “I love the set up though, West was so sure I was a bumbling idiot thief that he even got an arrest warrant without confirming where I was first.”

“Like I thought.” Len smiled.

“Like you thought.” Henry chuckled. “Joe is on desk duty now and there are talks of reopening my dad’s case.”

“Good Doll, that pig deserves it.” Mick crowed, his voice full of laughter.

“But we are just getting started.” Len drawled, happy with himself.

“Yeah we are, I got a lawsuit to take care of, we have our actual big jewel heist coming up and Joe is probably going to start stalking me soon.” Henry sighed. “But right now, my face really hurts.”

Len chuckled and kissed his knuckle.

“Ok sweetheart, we’ll get you fixed up.” He purred, his eyes dancing with joy and interest. “And maybe celebrate.”

“Mmmmm, celebrating sounds fun. I could celebrate, after I sleep. I’ve only gotten a few holding cell hours of sleep and I worked all night.”

“And your clients enjoyed it.” Len smirked.

“Always love watching you strip Doll.” Mick murmured with a glance to the backseat. “It’s almost as hot as you wearing our clothes. Even if you got blood all over them.”

Henry chuckles and leaned back to watch the world go by. He tried to get the image of his little girl’s smile out of his mind, but it was burned there.

Like the ache in his chest.


	4. When Joe loses it

Henry finished his sound check and waved to the guys in the band with a weak claim that he was going to get some shut eye in the back before the club opened.

Weak in that he was so exhausted he was starting to see double, jet lag for a long flight which barely left him enough time to make the check sinking in. Henry reminded himself that his career as a musician was important for helping him cover his illegal work and gains as he found a couple of tall amps he could lay down on, with a moving blanket between him and the uncomfortable molded plastic for some semblance of comfort.

The only thing he did before closing his eyes was send off a text to his boyfriends reminding them that he was in town and safe. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed against his will was the reply of a flame and lock, falling asleep with a smile.

He shut out all the sounds and movement around him with practiced ease and was in a deep sleep in seconds.

Henry woke up about 30 minutes before the club was supposed to open not knowing why. He blinked and looked around, surprised to see the bouncer who usually snuck Len and Mick in the back when he played all night standing off to the side looking nervous.

“Henry? Some cops are here.” He said softly eyes drifting to the side, obviously looking towards were the cops were waiting. Henry blinked, confused.

“The cops? Why?” Henry croaked and cleared his throat with a little cough. He just wanted to sleep and there was no reason for the cops to be here. He had no plans in the works.

“I don’t know, some of them look… angry.” The bouncer fidgeted and looked terrified. Henry sighed and slung himself off the amps to stand and stretch.

“I’ll go talk to them you should go get ready to man the door.” Henry patted the man on the arm as he walked past him with a rub at his eyes to remove the remaining sleep.

Stepping out from the backstage he was surprised to see four familiar looking suits and a pair of uniformed officers. Joe West looked like he hasn’t slept in a week, drank all his meals in that time and lost a bet with a Rottweiler. The other cops all looked at him like they expected him to explode at any moment.

Normally Henry would enjoy seeing Joe look so beat up, but he was too tired and worn out to even want to reveal in the other man’s discomfort. Also, there was the fact that neither he or Len and Mick had any plans in the works to push Joe, so this was the first time in years that he was in the same room as the detective without forewarning. That was weird.

Henry audibly sighed and climbed down the stairs leading to the stairs, noticing Joe stiffen with anger as he became visible. He walked right past all the cops went straight to the bar, where the bartender was finishing setting up for the night. All the parties involved were surprised by his actions, but the bartender was too jaded to let the surprise stop him.

“Tony, I need a Coke, easy on the ice. This is going to be long.” He winced at the sound of exhaustion in his voice. He was so not in the mood for this.

“Mr. Allen?” The younger of the detectives broke the silence and approached Henry as he waited for his drink. Henry grunted as Tony handed him a glass and turned to the detective as he took a sip. He studied the detective as he settled on to one of the barstools, trying to remember his name. He was dating Iris, he should remember his name.

It hit him all at once and put his drink on the bar top to talk to him.

“It’s Thawne, right? Can you tell me what I can do for Central City’s not so finest?” Henry said with a look over to Singh and the other two detectives. He decided he was too tired, and the club was opening to soon for him to really want to deal a slow game. “Singh, with our past do you think it was wise to let West off the leash?”

“You smug son of a bitch!” West broke and made a move toward Henry only to be dragged back by Chyre. He strained against the other man’s grip, his eyes filled with rage and fuming. “Where is she!? What did you do to her you monster!?”

“Thawne, I’m a bit jet lagged and have no idea what he is talking about. Tell me what you want to know so I can get backstage so I can sleep a bit more before my set.” Henry asked with an accidental yawn. He liked seeing Joe broken but he was so not in the mood for it right now.

“I’m sorry about Detective West. We will make this fast. When was the last time you had any contact with Iris West?” Thawne asked with a glare towards Joe and getting his notebook out to make notes.

“Iris? Last time I talk to her was… six months ago? Maybe five? I haven’t really had any regular contact with her for eight years.” Henry said confused by the question. He sat up and looked over Joe and Singh, who was whispering frantically in his ear. Realization hit him when he saw the look in Joe’s eye at his claim. “Wait, I’m sorry, did something happen to Iris? Where is she?”

Henry was reaching for his phone, determined to call her and grateful he had her number. He was stopped by a right hook to his face knocking him off his stool. He blinked and saw Joe standing over him with Singh and Chyre trying to pull him back.

“YOU TOOK HER YOU ASSHOLE! WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS MY LITTLE GIRL!?” Joe roared as he tried to fight against the hands holding him. The two uniform officers backed away from the ruckus with a terrified but cold look. Henry blinked and tried to roll over the sounds hitting him.

“What? He thinks I took her?” Henry said blearily, realizing he was reacting too slow and realizing it was probably a bad thing following a blow to the face.

“Barry-“ Thawne started with a strained look towards Joe, Henry noticing his hand had moved to the gun on his waist and cut him off as he struggled to process everything.

“Henry, not Barry.” Henry said as he struggled to get up but was too dizzy to do more than sit up.

“Henry, please can you just tell us where you where over the last 24 hours.” Thawne said sounding as exhausted as he was.

“I got back in town around… 3pm? I think that when my flight got in, maybe 2:30? Before that I spent the last 6-weeks in Japan.” Henry said slowly and shaking his head. “I have no idea where Iris is. I haven’t talked to her.” ‘Not past my child support payments each month…’ Henry added in his head as he wished the world would stop swaying.

“Liar! You took her!” Joe snarled, putting up a fresh fight against Chyre and Singh. Henry frowned and reached to his pocket to get his passport and wallet, stopping when all the officers’ hands went to their guns.

“Woah, I’m just getting my passport and wallet. It has my boarding pass in it.” Henry said as he threw his hands in the air. Thawne grabbed one of them and hauled him to his feet. While Henry struggled to regain his balance and placed his hand on the bar top, Thawne felt in his pocket and pulled out the object in question.

Thawne examined them and handed them to Singh, who checked Henry’s stamps for his entry into Japan and reentry to the states, and pulled out the contents of his wallet, which included the boarding pass. Henry stiffened when he saw Singh pull out the last picture Iris had sent him but breathed a sigh of relief when the man just casted a glance between it, him and Joe and returned it to his wallet without a further word.

Henry always like Singh and felt bad when he got dragged into his traps. He was one of the few good cops he had ever meet.

“Why were you out of the country?” Singh asked as he examined the passport carefully.

“Work.” Henry said tensely, mentally adding ‘Well, a heist and some cover work, to make my presence in the country justified’ as tried to finish of his drink in hopes the sugar and caffeine would make him feel better. “I did a mini tour, playing 25 shows and doing some sightseeing. I have some fans there it turns out.”

“Your website will have your tour dates published right?” Singh asked as he placed the wallet and passport on the bar top next to Henry. Henry bristled a bit when Singh’s eyes looked him over with a hit of judgement. Singh may be a good cop but that doesn’t mean he liked him.

“I just got back in the country, I haven’t updated it yet so it should.” Henry sighed and glanced over at Joe to frown at the half-crazed man who Chyre was whispering to frantically. “Look if I could help you I would. Iris was my friend, even if her father is a bad cop.”

Joe audibly growled and lurched in his partner’s grip at the statement.

“Just because you didn’t take her doesn’t mean you weren’t involved you son of a bitch. You have friends, people you work with. They could have taken her!” Joe snarled with his eyes wide and crazed.

Henry paused and thought about it. Len and Mick wouldn’t kidnap Iris without telling him and had already agreed that Iris and Nora were off limits. They would never hurt his daughter. Lisa, Len’s sister, might try and befriend her but no one he knew would take her.

“No one I know would touch your daughter Joe. You maybe a bad cop, but your crimes don’t extend to your family.” Henry scoffed and shock his head. He turned to Thawne, waiting for the next question. The other detective was looking at Joe in disgust and didn’t notice Henry’s attention right away. He quickly turned back to Henry and looked down his notebook again.

“Mr. Allen do you know anyone who would want to hurt Ms. West?” He asked with a strained voice, obviously more interested in moving on. Henry shock his head, swore when he felt dizzy again and leaned against the bar top.

“Look, Ernie, Eddie, Gary, what ever your name is, we were friends as not any more. I like her, but all I can tell you about her life is she has a daughter, she’s Joe’s daughter, and a journalist.” Henry left off Thawne’s connection just in-case it wasn’t common knowledge. “Joe, her boyfriend, her boss, these people would really know who is in her life and who might not like her. I know nothing.”

Thawne looked over at Joe and sighed.

“Thank you, Mr. Allen. I’m sorry to bother you.” Thawne thanked Henry as he snapped his notebook shut. He turned to Singh, about to say something to the man. Joe stopped any further calm conversation dead in its tracks.

“NO! HE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS! AND HE IS GOING TO TALK!” He yelled as he shoved Chyre to the ground and pulled his gun. Maybe he was aiming to kill Henry, or maybe he was aiming to scare him with a warning shot.

Whatever his intentions, it proved to not matter, as the bullet ripped through Henry’s shoulder knocking the breath from his lungs in his shock and by impact.

Everyone in the room froze, it was like time stopped. Thawne looked like his world was crashing, his body half turned between Singh and Henry, Singh looking defeated. Chyre’s hand was on his gun ready to pull it on Joe, who looked like he was the one who was shot.

Henry collapsed to the ground spurring the men to action.

Thawne dropped on to Henry, his hands moving to stop the bleeding, while Singh turned to Joe with his gun drawn ordering him to drop the weapon. The uniformed officers were instantly on the radio, calling for an ambulance and back up. Tony freaked out and ran to get the owner.

Joe didn’t put up a fight, placing his gun on the ground and lacing his finger’s behind his head to allow Chyre to handcuff him. He looked small and defeated as he stared at Henry bleeding on the ground.

Henry didn’t even notice. The pain ripping through his shoulder was too much to notice anything else.

His hand of his uninjured side laid on top of Thawne’s, gasping for breath and whimpering in pain.

“Henry, Henry can you hear me?” Thawne asked with a bit of panic in his voice. Henry gasped and nodded, struggling to make any words.

“Ok, Ok.” Thawne sighed and looked to the side to say something Henry couldn’t make out. Henry’s brain supplied that he was probably talking to one of the other officers. He couldn’t ask because the world seemed to be dimming.

“Henry, the ambulance is on its way. We are going to get you help.” Thawne’s voice was reassuring as Henry lost consciousness. He hoped this wasn’t how he died. He would hate to die on the floor of a rock club he kind of hated.

Henry only registered a few things for a he next few hours.

The ambulance ride where EMT’s stuck a mask on his face and moved frantically around him. The bright lights of the ER. The sounds of X-rays being taken and hen him being prepped for surgery.

He thought he heard Len and Mick at one point, but the world was moving to fast for him to keep up.

He wished it would slow down for him.

When he gained consciousness again, he was in a hospital bed, monitors beeping away to one side, bandage thick on his shoulder and an IV sticking out of his hand. He blinked and tried to look around, groaning slighting when his attempts to move his head jolted pain through his body. He heard movement to his side in response to his groan and looked up when he felt a hand take his good one.

Mick looked as concerned as he did the first night Henry had meet him, but almost relieved and the love in his eyes was clear. Henry shift his head a little and saw Len standing to his side with a hand on his knee. Henry sighed in relief, if they were there, he was safe.

“What happened?” Henry croaked, blinking to clear the last of sleep or strain from his eyes. He was surprised when Mick moved to put a straw to his mouth.

“Take a sip of some water Doll. Go slow.” He softly directed. Henry complied grimacing when the act of drinking hurt a little.

“You had a concussion on top of the gun shot. We were worried.” Len explained as Mick busied himself with pampering Henry.

“I was shot. Joe shot me. For something I didn’t even do.” Henry murmured softly the world catching up to him and his head feeling like it was filled with cotton. “I can’t believe he shot me.”

“We know, Doll. Turns out the cop’s kid was in a dead zone. Her car broke down, found herself at an old farm with its geriatric owners and it took tome for the state police to get in contact with the CCPD. She’s fine.” Mick broke down what happened for Henry while he plumped up the pillow beneath his head.

“Joe isn’t a cop anymore. Cecile is talking to the DA still about the outcome of all this, but that is a guarantee.” Len told him moving to the other side to sit on the bed near Henry’s knee. Henry smiled as he felt Len’s hand take the one below his injured shoulder and stroke it. “How do you feel?”

“Like my head is full of cotton and floaty. I bet I’ll be hurting later.” Henry murmured, feeling tired again.

“Can you stay awake long enough for the doctor get here?” Len asked with a gentle squeeze.

“Will he be long? Because I’m drifting.” Henry asked as he tried to squeeze back. He hissed at the attempt, which lead to his body feeling the pain from his surgery for the first time.

“Already hit the call button Doll. They should be here soon.” Mick reassured as he finally sat on Henry’s other side and took that hand in his.

“Is it safe for you two to be here?” Henry asked as he tried to keep himself awake by letting his mind wonder.

“No open warrants out for us. All the stolen goods are hidden away or sold. So, the cops know now you are dating us. They already think your crooked.”

Henry nodded and thought for a second.

“I wish you could have stayed with me in Japan. I’ve missed you.” He grumbled as he started to feel the pain stab through him.

“We know, maybe you might not have wound up shot and in the hospital.” Len said with fire licking his eyes. Henry groaned and hoped he wasn’t thinking about something stupid.

“He may have shot me anyways Len, Joe was deranged. You couldn’t have stopped him.” Henry explained. “Don’t do anything we could regret. Your promised me we would try and not let people die for our work.”

“I know, I know. Honey, I’m just…” Len gulped and lifted his hand to his mouth to kiss it.

“Your worried. I’m sorry.” Henry smiled wishing he could lean over and kiss the terrified looking man. He loved how much he cared about him and his safety

“Doll, there is something you should know.” Mick broke the awkward bubble of protectiveness and concern. Before he could continue there was a knock on the door and a doctor with two nurses and Cecile entered the room.

“Mr. Allen? You gave us a scare young man.” The doctor said with a cheesy smile as he leaned over to examine his patient. “You lost a lot of blood, and you had a nasty concussion.”

“Was it that bad?” Henry askes softly as he fought down his disappointment to lose the touch of his boyfriends as the got out of the way of the nurses.

“Well you will recover. We were worried about swelling in your head, but it seems to be going down nice now. Did your friends tell you how long you were out?”

“No? Was it long?” Henry asked his heart rate jumping making the monitor next to him beep a bit more frequently.

“Two days son. It was touch and go there for a bit.” The doctor said as he made a note in the chart and looked at Henry with a serious face.

“Ok nuts and bolts. You are lucky to still have your arm, the bullet knicked a major blood vessel.  You are looking at least two months of physical therapy. The concussion is clearing up nicely, so you should be good to sleep and recover. You needed three liters of blood, but all your blood work is looking good.” The doctor sighed and handed the chart to the nurse.

“The big things we need to watch are your blood pressure, it’s been a bit low and we need to make sure you’re not bleeding internally. The bullet caused some fracturing in your shoulder blade and we had to put in some pins to set it. So, we are going to need to keep you here for a few days to monitor it all. You also where unconscious for a while, so I’m going to have neurologist come visit you in a few hours just to examine you.”

Henry sighed and looked over at his boyfriends who looked concerned. He nodded and looked over to doctor again.

“Ok doctor, I understand. As long as they can stay here.” Henry lifted his hand to point at to Len and Mick. “I don’t do well by myself.”

“I don’t see why it would be a problem.” The doctor turned to Cecile and smiled. “The nurses are going to switch out Mr. Allen’s IVs and take some blood for some fresh tests but then you can have a private conversation with your client Ms. Horton.”

“Thank you doctor.” Cecile smiled as she put her briefcase on the counter across from Henry’s bed and pulled up a chair that the nurses had brought in with them.

Henry tried to stay still and not grumble in pain as the nurse changed his bandages, cleaned his wound, switched out his IV bags with what he assumed was antibiotics and other medications for his head or blood pressure. When they were finally done, they placed a button for the morphine dispenser in his hands and walked away with assurance that food was on its way soon.

Henry hadn’t even realized he was hungry until that moment. He reached over for the glass of water Mick had made him sip from earlier and whined when the movement pulled on his shoulder. Mick was by his side in an instant offering him the water and brushing his hair from his face. Henry sighed and turned to Cecile while he was still clear headed.

“I’m sorry about all this Henry.” Cecile started as she pulled some paperwork from her briefcase.

“Its not your fault Joe West lost it.” Henry offered with a sigh.

“Well there is some good news from all of this.” Cecile said as she pushed the bedside table over to Henry and with Len’s help moved him to a sitting position.

“Good is nice, I could use some good.” Henry whimpered, grabbing Mick’s hand and squeezing as all the movement made the pain worse. Len grabbed the morphine button and hit it when he saw, not giving Henry a chance to suffer.

“First the city has offered you a settlement on your harassment case. Detective West’s recent actions have made the city desperate to settle before the media get involved. It’s a hefty settlement but they have a caveat I’m not sure you’ll be comfortable with.” Cecile handed the paperwork to Len, who looked it over for Henry.

“They want to West to keep his pension?” Len snarled as he read through the paperwork and looked up to glare at Cecile who rubbed her temples with a sad sigh.

“West aged into his pension 6 years ago, could have retired with the whole thing without any issue at any time. He could make an argument that he earned it already and should keep it as this event was a period of emotional distress and that Singh and the other detectives should have taken him off the case and even committed him based on his actions.”

“He won’t.” Henry cut in before Len could argue and put his hand on the other man’s to center him while he thought. “Do they want the Ok for Joe’s full pension?”

“No, due to his actions it would be half of his pension. The other caveat is that you don’t press charges about the shooting.” Cecile said as she pulled out some more paperwork and put them off to the side.

“How much is the settlement for?” Henry asked Len who was still examining the paperwork Cecile had handed him.

“Fifty million.” Len said softly offering Henry the paperwork. Henry took it and looked over the legalize as he started to fill himself drifting from the pain killer. “Look you don’t have to accept this right away, you can wait, try and negotiate more-“

“I’ll accept it. I want this to be over. With half his pension West might leave Central to avoid the bad press and shame. Without it he’ll have to get another job right away and he’ll probably stay in the city.” Henry said as he put the paperwork on the table and looked for a pen.

“You sure this is what you want to do?” Cecile asked as she pulled out her pen and offered it to him. Henry found all the lines for him to sign and initial and began to fill out the settlement agreement.

“I’m sure, I want this over with and the money can have some good use.” Henry said with a smile to Mick who was squeezing his knee reassuredly and Len who was now stroking his hair like he was desperate to reassure himself that Henry was there.

“There another thing honey.” Len whispered as Henry filled out the paperwork.

“What, did the club blow up too?” Henry asked as he filled out the last piece of paperwork and handed it to Mick to sign as a witness.

“No, the girl told her dad about your kid.” Mick grumbled as he squinted at the paper work and fished out his reading glasses with a blush.

“What- Iris told Joe?” Henry sat up ridged, wincing as the movement flood his body with pain again and looking frantically at the people standing around him.

“While you were in surgery. She was pissed that her old man thought you would hurt her, and it burst out while she was yelling at him.” Mick snarled as he signed the witness one spot and then handed the paperwork to Len to fill out the second witness spot. “I wanted to punch her out because the pig looked like he was going to strangle you on the operator table.”

“Fuck.” Henry groaned as he leaned back against his pillow and whined to the ceiling.

“That’s the other issue.” Cecile sighed and touched the other paperwork. “Iris is moving to dissolve your parental rights.”

“What? What the fuck? Why?” Henry snarled, anger flooding him as he fought the urge to try and climb out of bed and hunt her down. Of all the things he expected this wasn’t one of them. He felt Mick and Len stiffen on his sides and he absentmindly grabbed Len’s hand and leaned against Mick’s side.

“I had a similar a reaction.” Cecile sighed and rubbed her temples again, making Henry feel bad for her. She pulled up the chair up again and sat on it in a signal that this was going to be a bit heavy.

“Apparently she had been planning on doing this for a while. Her boyfriend proposed to her a few weeks ago and she wants him to be able to adopt Nora.”

Henry blinked and frowned at that information, surprised that Thawne had kept his cool if he thought that Iris had been taken by him in the club.

“We already have an agreement though, we filled it out a parental right agreement 6 years ago. I pay child support, more than I agreed to by the way, and I keep my rights as her father. It included a declaration of my right to custody if anything happened to her the possibility of having visitation. The only reason I haven’t exercised that right is because she still lives with Joe.” Henry said carefully, trying not to give into his anger. He knew it wasn’t that so successful as Len stiffened at the sound of his anger filled words.

“I explained that to her, and that if she pushed to dissolve your rights you could make a play for full custody and her father’s history with you could work in your favor.” Cecile said before she leaned back, her face looking like she was struggling to give him the right words. “She seems to think you wouldn’t mind.”

“She is wrong. I told her… I told her when she told me she was pregnant that the only reason I couldn’t be part of her life was Joe. I would… I would love to have a relationship with her.” Henry said softly as he leaned back to look at the ceiling and listen to the monitors beep. He knew what he had to do but he knew it was going to shock Cecile and maybe even Mick and Len.

“Cecile, has she actually started the legal process?” Henry asked slowly.

“No, she came to talk to me in hopes you would just sign away your rights.” Cecile said with a tap on one of the folders of paperwork she had pulled out.

“Then I need you to explain to her why she shouldn’t move forward.” Henry sat up and looked at Cecile with a steely gaze. Distantly he thought that the morphine was probably lowering his inhabitations. “Tell her what I will do if she does.”

Cecile gulped and tilted her head to the side, looking, not for the first time since she quit the DA’s office and went in to private practice with Henry as one her biggest clients, like she was wondering if working for Henry was worth it.

“What will you do if she attempts to legally dissolve your parental rights?” Cecile asked with a bit of strain in her voice.

“First, I will assert my parental rights and demand visitation, then I will apply for a restraining order against Joe to keep him from be able to in contact with me or Nora, and finally I will apply for full custody. If she thinks I can’t do any of that remind her that for the last almost 4 years that Joe has attacked me physically and privately multiple times and the city just settled with me in a case about his actions. She still lives with him, and even if she and her husband plan on moving else where once they get married, I doubt she planned on Joe being kicked out of their lives. Even if winning full custody is a pipe dream, I can still make this hard and a judge might be willing to prevent a man who has shot an innocent unarmed man from being allowed with 20 feet of his grandchild.”

Everyone in room stared at Henry and Cecile gulped visibly again before she started gathering up her paperwork again.

“I’ll call her later to night, after I return the signed settlement agreement to the city’s lawyer.” Cecile said softly as she finished storing everything away before she turned back to Henry. “I want to say I don’t think its right to threaten Iris.”

“It isn’t a threat. I haven’t exerted my parental rights because I didn’t want to make things harder for her with Joe. If she wants to try and prevent me from ever having a relationship with Nora I will fight as hard and as dirty as I need to be. I just don’t want to. Nora deserves her happy life, even if I’m not actively in it.”

Cecile didn’t make any other comments before finally making her leave. Mick and Len stayed quiet while Henry tried to settle himself after the new information.

“Do you think I’m going about this wrong?” He asked softly when he couldn’t handle the quiet anymore.

“No, I think you should try to have a relationship with your daughter.” Len replied.

“It is wrong for the cop kid to try and take her from you.” Mick added.

“Do you think you could do it though?” Len asked as he pushed Henry’s hair from his eyes and examined them like he was looking for the truth in them.

“Yes, I want to be a part of Nora’s life and if I have to fight Iris and be more active to stay in her life even remotely I will.” Henry said, a little surprised about how true it was. His few interactions with the little girl meant so much to him.

“Ok, Doll, we’ll help you.” Mick said with a kiss to Henry’s knuckles.

“There is one thing we should talk about.” Len said as Henry felt himself begin to drift a little.

“Is it sleep? Because I’m starting to feel sleepy.”

“It’s what we want to do when your out of here, but there is time.” Len said with a soft drawl and a stroke of Henry’s brow. “Its probably best to leave Central while you recover.”

“Ok, talk later. I can do that.” Henry said dreamily as he felt himself start to drift off.

Mick and Len placed matching kisses on his forehead, Len plumping his pillow and Mick tucking his blanket up over his body as his eyes drifted closed and he let sleep take him over again.

He really wished he had stayed in Japan but he hoped things would get better. Even if it was just him healing from a gun shot wound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i had Cecile quit due to Joe basically, him and his vendetta against Henry (which Henry fostered with Len and Mick's help)


	5. The Case of Bartholomew Henry Allen V Iris West

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long to get out. This is my third attempt at this chapter.  
> i think we have two more to go.  
> I am sorry if there is court based inaccuracies. I just based it all of TV and Movies. 
> 
> Also since this is a canon divergence thing, in this universe Singh married Rob before there was a Flash and Rob took his name and is a lawyer. 
> 
> Also to clarify, Nora is 7, Henry and Iris are 24. In case your wondering.

Henry fiddled with his tie as he stared out the courtroom window. His thoughts wouldn’t settle down and his hands moved from fixing his tie to tapping on the windowsill to back again as he rocked on his heels as he waited. He was so lost his thought that he didn’t even feel the pain in his shoulder.

That was until a familiar arm wrapped around him and a warm breath tickled his ear.

Henry jumped a little and looked over the handsome older man looking at him in concern. He gave Leonard Snart a stiff tired smile which was returned with a concerned, appraising look.

“You sure you’re alright honey?” Len whispered, his other hand moving up to cup Henry’s face as he examined it like he was looking for a weakness in the system. Henry laid his hand over the concerning touch and squeezed it reassuringly.

“I am. I am. I promise.” Henry smiled more confidently, a warm feeling welling in his chest and the world coming more in focus around him. Unfortunately, it meant the dull ache in his shoulder came through. “I mean my shoulder hurts, but that isn’t wasn’t you are asking about.”

Len smirked, his eyes softening and his embrace moving from his shoulder to his waist and he leaned forward to rest his forehead against Henry’s.

“Maybe you should sit down then.”

“Maybe, could help.” Henry smiled and moved away reluctantly to sit in one of the stiff and uncomfortable courtroom chairs sitting at the too shiny wood table. Len quickly joined him, taking his hand like a lifeline and continuing to look at him like he was about to snap. Henry smiled and leaned back in the chair to relax slightly.

“You know you don’t have to do this. You have other choices.” Len whispered with a strong squeeze on the hand in his.

“Len. I know. All the other choices are not good. Not enough.”

“I just don’t want you to hurt more than you have to.”

Henry smiled again and sighed.

“I am going to hurt no matter what.”

Len looked he was going to say something else but thought better after looking at Henry’s face again.

Henry was grateful, letting his thoughts race again. He knew it wasn’t smart to let himself worry and obsess but he couldn’t help himself.

The room was quiet and cold, set up for their pre-court mediation, with a tired looking court reporter in the corner on her phone and stacks of folders and paperwork on the table. The remaining seat on their side of the table was empty because Cecile was on the phone in the hallway, and the other side was empty because Iris was late.

Iris had decided to move forward with dissolving Henry’s parental rights, and Henry had been true to his word. A countersuit filed, a restraining order in the process and freeze on child support payments later and they were here. A last-ditch mediation attempt before having to argue their cases to a judge. An attempt that was sure to be messy and painful.

Henry knew he could win, even if he had to bribe or threaten the judge with his contacts, he just knew it would better to get it taken care here and now, no illegal means, no long drawn out court case. No need for Joe to be dragged into this.

Henry was running through the financial information he had and possible uses of that knowledge when the door to the room opened and Iris, her lawyer and the blonde detective from the shooting walked in. Henry frowned slightly as the party took their seats and Iris glared at him and Len.

“What is he doing here?” Iris snarled as she glared daggers at Len.

“Iris.” The lawyer reprimanded calmly, spreading his own paperwork on the table and looking coolly around the room. “Are we waiting for your lawyer Mr. Allen?”

Henry smirked and leaned back in his chair, his desire to screw with authority figures kicking in, Len snorting in amusement and casting a weary side eye at Henry.

“Cecile had to take a quick call in the hallway. You probably passed her on your way in.”

“Ah, yes I thought I saw her at the end of the hall.” The lawyer said dismissively as he pulled out a pair of reading glasses and started examining some of the pieces of paper as he organized them. There was an uneasy quiet as the two parties glared and stared uncomfortably at each other.

“I can’t believe your doing this.” Iris broke the silence with a hiss. Her lawyer sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Iris. Please. We should wait for his lawyer.”

“No. Eight years ago he wanted nothing to do with his daughter and now he cares about who she lives with and calls daddy.”

“That’s not true and you know it. I didn’t want to play house with you with Joe hanging around, it had nothing to do with Nora and whether or not I wanted to be in her life.” Henry replied calmly as he tightened his grip on Len’s hand to steel himself. Iris looked like she was ready to fire back when the door opened again and revealed Cecile and the court appointed mediator.

“Henry, Leonard, I’m so sorry about that.” Cecile apologized as she took her seat while the mediator talked to the court reporter. She looked over the pair cautiously and took a deep calming breath “I hope you two were ok without me.”

“A little bored.” Len drawled with a cold steely glare at the detective.

“We were fine Cecile.” Henry calmly reassured her, still smirking with confidence and feeling a little bad about how much he enjoyed the annoyance on Iris’ face. The younger woman looked like she was about to jump across the table and strangle him sending flashes of Joe through Henry’s mind.

Luckily the mediator took his seat and cleared his throat to gain everyone’s attention. The court reporter and he shared a nod and the man placed a recording device on the table before looking over the two parties.

“I assume we are ready to start?” He asked dryly as he sized up the Henry and Iris before opening one of the folders in front of him and placed a notebook in front of him open to a blank page. “Please state who is attendance for the record please.”

“Of course, I am Robert Singh representing Iris West, the young lady sitting next to me in her petition to sever the parental rights of Bartholomew Henry Allen for the minor Nora Francine West. Also in attendance for the petitioner is Detective Edward Thawne of CCPD, Ms. West’s fiancé.” Iris’ lawyer offered to the mediator and the rapidly typing reporter.

“Cecile Horton for the respondent Bartholomew Henry Allen, who is also in attendance, in his counter petition for partial custody of and visitation rights for the minor Nora Francine West. Also in attendance is Mr. Allen’s long time partner Mr. Leonard Snart.” Cecile said confidently ignoring a dismissive snort that came from Iris and made the mediator frown at her.

“Thank you. I am Thomas Smithe, a court appointed mediator assigned by Judge Mary Stone to assess the arguments and make a recommendation for further action before your next court appearance. Before we begin, I will advise all parties that I have been fully advised of the case and have reviewed all the documentation and records submitted by both parties. During this meeting both parties will be given the opportunity to give a statement and be questioned by both lawyers as well as myself. I will also remind both parties that this is just meeting, I do not have final say in the matter, but the judge will hear about any and all interactions that take place during. That being said I hope both parties are capable and mature enough to approach this meeting with dignity and respect.”

The last part was clearly directed toward Iris who blushed and mumbled a quiet ‘Of course sir' before the man nodded and pulled out one piece of paper from folder.

“Good. Before we begin, I need to ask two questions about some of the information already on the record. If you would please indulge me.”

“Of course.” Iris’ lawyer nodded

“My client will happily answer any question.” Cecile smiled and squeezed Henry’s knee reassuringly under the table. He sat a bit straighter and tried to look as attentive as possible as the mediator looked over the documents in front of him like he was looking for a missing piece.

“Thank you. First, Ms. West?”

“Yes sir?” Iris sounded a little surprised, clearly expecting the mediator to focus on Henry over her.

“The court has received your financial documents and we have a question about your income.” The mediator fanned out some the papers and looked up expectedly at Iris, his face looking steely and stern.

“Of course, I would be happily clarifying anything.” Iris sounded relieved, like this was the easiest thing she could be asked.

“Well, Ms. West, the question boils down to a simple, where is it?”

The room was deadly quiet as Iris gapped at the question and Henry had to fight back a smile at the baffled look on his childhood friend’s face. Len laced his fingers with him in a clear way of ground Henry for him sudden cockiness.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand. I provided the courts with all my financial and income records for the last seven years. Sir.” Iris’ voice was tight as she stiffened a bit more with each word.

“Well, Ms. West, that is what is concerning me. The records you have provided the courts show the child support payments you have received from Mr. Allen, both before and after your financial agreement you made, I see it was established about six years ago, most of which exceed the agreement you and Mr. Allen wrote up at the time, as well some additional payments Mr. Allen made that seem to be made to pay for your education which were not part of any agreement made between you and respondent. They also show some income from what appears to be part time job. At a coffee shop, is that correct?” The mediator held up what looked like a W-2 form and handed it to Iris who took it very mechanically.

“Yes sir, I work 10 hours a week covering the busy morning rush at CC Jitters.” Iris sounded nervous as she looked at the form before handing it back.

“And the rest of it?”

“The rest of what?” Iris looked baffled looking over at her lawyer like he could explain what was being asked. The mediator sighed and stacked the papers back up in front of him.

“Ms. West. How exactly are you supporting yourself? As far as the court can tell you are being whole supported financially by Mr. Allen, in a manner that far exceeds the agreement the two of you agreed on six year prior to our meeting here. So, Ms. West please explain for the record how you are supporting yourself and your child, independent of the overly generous largesse of Mr. Allen.”

Iris gulped and looked nervously at her lawyer who frowned and leaned in to whisper into her ear. After a few seconds Iris nodded and took a deep breath.

“Sir, since I gave birth to Nora I have been living with my father Joe West, He paid most of the house hold expenses and while I kept the house hold during Nora’s preschool years. When I started attending school to get my degree, I went to school full time and balanced that with providing childcare for my child. Working more than a few hours didn’t seem feasible.”

The mediator made a note and nodded while biting his lip.

“And that Joe West is the same Joseph West Mr. Allen has applied for a restraining order against?” The mediator asked when he finished. Iris blinked and looked over at Henry with anger in her eyes.

“I was not aware that Bar- Henry had done so but yes I believe so.”

The mediator nodded and looked over at Henry with a curious look.

“Mr. Allen, I had a question for you too.”

“Of course, anything you need to make an informed opinion.”

“As it has been stated for the record already you have been making not only your agreed upon child support payments but have made extra payments on top of those payments and have helped pay for Ms. West’s tuition payments.”

“That is correct sir.” Henry replied smoothly having a feeling he knew where the question was going. He wasn’t disappointed.

“Can you please explain for the record why?”

Henry smiled over at Iris, whose eyes widened with realization of the implication and looked terrified at her lawyer who also looked concerned. Henry turned back to the mediator and smoothed the smug look from his face before he answered.

“I simply wanted to provide a good home environment for my child.”

The mediator looked surprised and flipped the page of his notebook to a new page with his pen poised to make notes.

“Mr. Allen, I apologize for the insistence, but can you please elaborate for the record?” The mediator pressed, looking like he was trying to give Henry a lifeline. Iris twitched with nervousness and irritation and Henry noticed Eddie whispering in her like he was trying to calm her down. Henry was pretty sure he was. He looked over at Len and squeezed his hand for support.

“Iris was 17 when Nora was born. She got her GED before the birth, but as a new mother it was too much to ask that she could work with a baby. I was already working full time at a restaurant and had a substantial bank account due to a life insurance payment for my mother who died when I was 11. While Iris’ father was able to pay for most of the expense for the household, I wanted to make sure that not only was my daughter taken care of, but that Iris had some freedom. If my extra payments covered the cost of things like little luxuries and insurance or a babysitter so she could go out one night or something, then it was money well spent. When Iris decided to attend college to get a degree, I felt that if I make it easier for her to attend without undo financial burden I should. It could only be helpful for my daughter and her future.”

The mediator took notes the whole time Henry talked, nodding a little and looking concerned. When Henry got to the end of his explanation, he placed his pen down firmly on the notebook and rubbed his eyes. He took another measured look at the people around the table before speaking again.

“Thank you, Mr. Allen, I just need to ask one more question. Please excuse the intrusion.”

“Is this really necessary?” Iris’ lawyer cut in looking annoyed.

“Mr. Singh, I am simply asking clarifying questions Judge Stone gave me. If you rather wait until you are in front of the judge for Mr. Allen to answer the question I am more than happy to document and share that with the judge.” The mediator made a few more notes in his notebook without even looking up at Iris or her lawyer.

Iris’ lawyer leaned over to whisper into her ear, Iris herself never breaking her death glare on Henry. After a few minutes she held up her hand and shock her head.

“Bar- Hen- Mr. Allen can answer any question he wants.” Iris declared through gritted teeth as she finally tore her gaze from her childhood friend to focus solely on the mediator. Henry chuckled and turned his focus back to the mediator to find him watching him curiously. He smiled and subtly rolled his shoulders, getting comfortable and letting the slight twinge of pain the action caused to ground him.

“I am happy to answer any question you have.” Henry offered with a slight purr that made Len chuckle, then cough to hide the slight laugh.

“Mr. Allen, at any point in the last seven years did you feel pressured by Ms. West, or any one in her life, to provide her with such excessive financial support?”

Iris’ lawyer bristled at the question looking like he wanted to object or call an end to the meeting. Eddie looked like he was going to jump up and yell, only being stopped by Iris’ grip on his hand. A dark shadow crossed Iris’ face as she frowned and looked down at the place were her and Eddie’s hand joined, biting her lip and keeping uncharacteristically quiet. Henry looked over at Len, amused by the half self-satisfied smile on his face. Henry smiled back and turned back to mediator, figuring he had left the room in uncomfortable silence.

“Only so far as I had the knowledge that if I provide greater financial ease to Iris it would translate to a happier and easier life for my daughter. Whose life and childhood I knew I couldn’t be involved with like I would like to be.” Henry answered the question honestly, his voice sounding humble and respectful. He knew that no matter what, he had set the last pin in the trap he had been setting up for a while. He leaned back into his seat, completely relaxed as the court reported typed away and the mediator made some last notes a tiny frown growing on his face.

The next forty-five minutes where almost boring, compared to the start. He and Iris gave their statements and answered each other’s lawyer’s questions. Eddie and Len gave their own, Len’s statement full of more subtext and flowery language when compared to Eddie’s almost report like precision, but still factual and leaning in Henry’s favor.

It became clear fast that it was all for show, the mediator never speaking up again, just making notes as they talked. Iris was flustered the whole time, glaring at Henry the full time. The end of the statements was almost anticlimactic.

The mediator thanked those in attendance for their time and asked the lawyers to step out with him to set up their next court appearance. The court recorder packed up her gear and left without a second look or a word as the lawyers joined the mediator in the hallway. Iris took a ragged breath and wiped her eyes before breaking the silence that fell in the bustle of cleaning up.

“You planned this.” She accused quietly, surprising Eddie in to looking up at the pair across from them with a suspicious look. Len snorted and Henry fought back a laugh.

“I had to protect myself, didn’t I?” Henry deflected with a bit of self-satisfaction.

“Planned what? Iris what are you talking about?” Eddie sounded concerned, looking at the other two with suspicion.

“He engineered it make it look like I was extorting him, or Dad was extorting him, or even both of us and you. Extorting him with the well fair of his child.” Iris accused, angry tear beginning to roll down her cheek. Eddie looked horrified, clearly connecting the same dots Iris had.

“I didn’t lie, I gave you all that money to make sure that Nora had to the best possible life. If others want to make it seem like something more than my innate desire to provide for my child, I can’t stop them.” Henry bit his lip to stop himself from smiling, feeling a little bad for Iris. She hadn’t known about his plans with Joe and is now suffering from his little protection measures. Not that he planned on ever using them against her.

“I’m going to lose.” Iris whispered with a sob and pulled away violently when Eddie moved to comfort her. “I am going to lose. I won’t lose custody because you didn’t ask for it, but the judge is going to give you the most extreme version of your petition. And you know that! You knew before I even filed!”

Henry shrugged and reached into his pocket for his phone, deciding to check his messages instead of answering the mother of child right away. The only messages were from Mick, wishing him luck and wishing he was there. He smiled slightly and put the phone on the table, hardening himself against her angry tears.

“I told you, I warned you, if you did this I would win and make you wish you hadn’t.” He coldly stated as he leaned forward against the table to stare her down. “Now I guess you just have to decide what you want to do.”

“What does that mean?” Eddie hissed, looking like he wished he had a gun.

“Well, Detective Pretty, what Henry is saying is does Iris want to see what a judge says, or does she want to make a deal.” Len spoke up, reaching over to lace his fingers with Henry’s on top of the table.

“Fine, what do you want Henry?” Iris ground out. Eddie moved to argue, and Iris cut him off with a raised hand. “Eddie, it will be better for all of us to get this done now. Henry. What do you want?”

Henry smiled and opened up one of the few folders remaining on the table, pulling up the agreement he had Cecile write up special for this mediation. He slid it over to Iris and leaned back as she started looking it over.

“First, Child support payments are cut in half, I no longer pay for your education, I no longer provide you with additional money. Second, you have to move out of Joe’s house within 60 days, you told him about me when you agreed not to, and I don’t want him around my child as much as he has been. Third, I will pay for Nora’s education, private school and all that, what ever is seemed necessary and I get the final say on any change to her education from here on out. And last but certainly not least…”

“Visitation? You want visitation?” Iris practically growled the word and slammed the documents on the table. Eddie grabbed the papers and started reviewing them with his eyebrows knitted together. Len even tensed up besides Henry, clearly surprised.

“One week, 7 days, each year, Nora will spend with me wherever I am. We can do it during summer vacation, I’m not going to ask you to give up a holiday.” Henry looked over to Len with an apologetic smile and turned to meet Iris’ angry eyes and stared her down. “A judge will probable give me way more than that, especially considering my counter suit requested every other weekend and a month in the summer. You said it yourself, a judge will probably give me everything I asked for and then some.”

Iris pushed away from the table violently and started pacing along the wall.

“When I told you, I was pregnant you wanted nothing to do with us. Nothing. Now you want to be a dad? Now that Nora is… now that we have a life and everything works, you want to come in and be her dad!?” Iris’ voiced started to rise with every word, the last of coming out as close to a yell. Henry just blinked and sighed.

“I told you back then, I would have happily raised Nora with you if it wasn’t for Joe. You changed things, now I want a chance.” Henry was calm against the storm of rage surrounding Iris. “I have a stable life, money, and I might be a bit safer for her than what she might be going forward. You sign this when your lawyer comes back, and I won’t add her to my restraining order against Joe, she can still have a relationship with Joe, even if it isn’t what it once was. Don’t sign it, a judge will give me more time with Nora than you would be giving me here, might even give you random fitness visits. Would you risk losing Nora like that?”

Iris grabbed a pen and threw it against the wall. Eddie stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulder and began to whisper in her ear. After a few minutes the door opened again, and Cecile and Iris’ lawyer walked in. He looked concerned at the pair whispering in the corner and cleared his throat.

“Did I miss something?”

Iris turned around and wiped her eyes. Her lawyer frowned and glared at Henry, his eyes narrowing in an appraising look. He clearly found Henry wanting.

“We have agreed on a deal.” Iris choked out, Eddie robbing her back soothingly and whispering what Henry had to assume was gentle condolences in her ear. Eddie nodded at the papers he and Iris had abandoned and the lawyer picked them up and started reading through them. Cecile sat down next to Henry, grabbing his other hand and looking in his face like she wanted to make sure he was ok.

The lawyer threw the papers on the table and moved over to look Iris in the eyes as he talked. His voice was firm and comforting when he spoke, and Henry was momentarily happy that Iris had gotten a lawyer who carried so much.

“Iris, you don’t have to accept this. We can still wait and see what the judge says and proceed from there. You don’t need to give in to him like this.”

“The judge is going to rule in his favor Rob. I know it, Eddie knows it, I even think you know it, even if it is just a little bit. If the Judge gives Henry what he is asking for it could be a year or more before I can get it appealed. This is easier. Not that much changed and Nora isn’t…. Nora isn’t used as a pawn. Please. Rob. I want to sign.”

Iris sniffled once she was done, wiping her eyes and leaning into Eddie’s shoulder, the detective trying to comfort her. Her lawyer sighed and moved back to his seat, pulling the paperwork out and flipping to specific section.

“Fine, just one thing.”

“The offer is what it is Rob.” Cecile said lightly, tensing up a little. Ready to fight Henry realized.

“I understand that Cecile. Just this part about change her housing situation in 60 days, extend that to 90.”

“Why 90?” Len asked with narrowed eyes.

“Ms. West and Mr. Thawne would need the time to find a place that is suited to them and Nora, as well as move. If they can’t find a place, they can afford fast the moving process can take more than 60 days. 90 days will give them a little buffer, make it easier on them and Nora.” The lawyer pushed the document across the table with enough force that it bounced off Henry’s chest and made him scramble to keep it from falling to the ground.

“What do you want to do Henry?” Len asked softly in his ear, sounding a bit concerned. Henry handing the documents to Cecile and smiled smugly at the lawyer.

“90 days is fine with me. Wouldn’t want to cause Nora, or Iris I guess, undo stress.”

“And we will arrange your visitation time at a later date.” The lawyer added as Cecile made the changes to the document and handed it to Henry to initial. “No need to rush anything.”

“Of course, let’s say we have a meeting in a month. Two?”

“Two, Ms. West has house hunting to do. Would you like me to go get a notary or are you alright with just the two witnesses? Its fine either way of course, both are legally binding.”

“Len? You OK witnessing?” Henry struggled to hide his amusement.

“Of course, dear.” Len purred, clearly amused as well.

“Detective Thawne?” The lawyer turned to couple still standing wrapped around each other in the corner.

“I can sign as a witness.” Eddie pulled Iris back to the table, the young woman still sniffling a little want wiping her eyes as she took her seat again.

“Where do I sign?” She whispered to her lawyer as he finished checking the changes written inside. He pointed to the lines she needed to sign quietly, a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she signed each space. When she was done, she pushed the documents back to Henry, who signed all the spots indicated for him. Len then signed the first witness line and Eddie followed on the second.

The detective looked at the document a bit long after he finished signing, his eyes cloudy with undefined emotions. After a few minutes Iris pulled the documents gently from his hands and hand them to Cecile. Cecile quickly checked the documents and slipped them back into their folder.

“I’ll go file this with court and call the judge’s office to let them know we reached a deal. Talk to you tomorrow?” Cecile nodded to Iris’ lawyer, who nodded back and rubbed some comforting circles in Iris’ back.

“I’ll be waiting. Iris, let me walk you to your car, OK?”

Iris stiffly nodded and stood up, walking straight to the door without a second look to Henry or Eddie. Cecile followed after her, deal papers in her hand, and Iris’ lawyer took a moment to whisper something to Eddie before he followed out to catch up with Iris. Eddie stayed seated, dark look still on his face and eyes locked on the center of the table.

Henry pushed away from the table, ready to leave now that everything was taken care of. He stood up and stretched, smiling softly at Len who rolled his eyes at his behavior.

“Well, I guess we better be going then. Its been nice seeing you Thawne.” Henry snarked as Len finally slowly stood up, stretching too but with a few more kinks in his older body. The pair moved towards the door only to be stopped by the sudden sound of Eddie Thawne’s voice.

“You know.” Eddie surprised them with the softness in his voice. “I thought that Joe was crazy, that there was no way you could be that much of vengeful bastard. But he was right. You really planned all of this.”

“I didn’t think I would have to use any of it against Iris, just happened that way Thawne.”

“You destroyed her. You realize that, right? No matter what, from now on, she is going to wonder if you really were being intimated by Joe, if her life was an illusion.”

“She is a big girl; she could have left years ago. She stayed.” Henry bristled. “Anything she is feeling is on her, not me.”

Eddie shock his head and stood up, stalked over to Henry and looked in him right in the eye, the darkness sending a tingle of fear down his back.

“I can’t do anything about this, or you, or the crimes I’m now sure you committed. You don’t get this cold and conniving overnight. Let me just say this. You do anything, anything at all, to hurt Nora, and I don’t care if I lose my badge like Joe. I will take you down.” His voice was full of venom and Henry flinched back against Len under the intensity of the glare leveled on him.

“Is that a threat Detective?” Len drawled out coldly, an arm moving to protectively hold Henry against his chest while his right hand moved to where his gun usually sat on his hip. Henry was momentarily glade Len couldn’t bring it with him into the courthouse. Len and Mick may have agreed to keep the killing at a minimum when he joined them, but he was sure as anything that Len would happily shoot a police detective to protect him.

“Not a threat. No, that’s a promise. I’ll be watching you Henry. Better watch yourself.” Eddie snarled and pushed past the pair to exit the room without another look.

Henry and Len shared a concerned look, and silently followed, making their way out of the courthouse as quickly as possible. Some of the marshals and court personal gave them the side eye as they made their way out of the building to the parking garage. The pair didn’t say a word until the got into Len’s favorite muscle car, Henry taking the driver’s seat while Len pulled his gun out from under the passenger’s seat and slipped it into his waist band.

Once Henry had buckled himself in and turned on the car Len visibly relaxed in his seat and leaned back as they pulled out of the garage. He waited until they were halfway down the block to speak up.

“Do we have to worry about Thawne?”

“Only if we are planning any heist in Central. Are we?” Henry glances at the mastermind besides him curiously who snorted.

“No, we are keeping a low profile. Remember? You can barely drive with your shoulder still healing and the cops will want to prove you are a crook to make Joe look better.” Len drawled, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “So, visitation huh?”

Henry flinched and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“I know I should have told you and Mick, Len. I just…”

“I am not made Scarlet. I wish I had a heads up is all. You should be in your kid’s life.”

“Thanks. It’s just a week.” Henry tried to sound dismissive, but the flipping of his stomach belied that attitude. His brain kept switching between panic and excitement at the thought of spending time with his daughter.

“Now. It’s just a week now. Once Nora and you get to know each other, you’ll see. You’ll start chaperoning dances, field trips, going to science fairs. All that dad stuff. Trust me. I did it all with Lisa. After three- or four-years Nora might even ask for more time with you.”

“Maybe. I haven’t even decided if I want to stay in Central now that this all done. We could easily find a little place in Coast City to use as a base of operations. I have the money to cover up anything… less than legal you might plan up and beach bon fires are just screaming Mick’s name.”

“And girls in bikinis. Can’t forget that.” Len snorted and leaned back. “Can we get through your PT first before we pack up and move?”

“Sure thing, babe.” Henry chuckled and rubbed Len’s knee before he had to pull away with a wince of pain in his damaged shoulder.

“Good now about tonight.”

Henry laughed and stopped at a red light, turning to look at the smug and mischievous looking man. It was a look Henry knew well and made his heart leap into his throat and his mouth water with anticipation. He started undoing the tie that had been bothering him all day, pausing when Len moved to undo it for him with a sultry smile

“Mick said he was going to be done with your fence tonight and might be home in the morning. So, Tonight, is just us.” He gulped out as Len moved to run his finger along his neck before undoing his top button and leaning in.

“Whatever shall we do?” Len purred, claiming a kiss from Henry just before the light turned green. Henry laughed when the car behind them hit their horn and turned back to continue their drive back to their apartment.

“I’m sure you have something in mind that I would enjoy.”

“Of course.”

“Wanna stop and get food first?” Henry asked with groan under his breath. He was interested in anything Len had in mind.

“We’ll order in. Later.” Len rubbed Henry’s shoulder and chuckled as he shivered under the touch.

Henry laughed and continued on his way back to their home. The high of the small victory, on top of the bigger one recently made him feel invincible. Parking the car, he felt like he could run around the world without breaking a sweat.

Walking into the building with Len’s arm around his waist he didn’t notice the figure watching him from the shadows of the trees across the street. Nor did he know what it meant and what was waiting for him soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if i made Henry a bit of a dick ><


End file.
